Time to Call it a Day

I have just finally posted photos from the Car Boot Sale which was held in May! Was it really three months ago! It was a great day and I was so encouraged by the team effort.

It is now 15 months since I started this project and time to bring it to a close. We have raised around $5000 towards the shipping costs, which sadly will only cover the shipping of perhaps half of the medical goods. Nevertheless, it has been a good effort and way back when it all started, I knew the biggest risk was of a ‘spectacular failure‘ and it was a risk I was willing to take. I guess it hasn’t been a resounding success, but a far better result than doing nothing about the great needs so many people in the world are facing. Part of me wants to persevere and give it another burst of energy to raise the full amount needed, and see it through to completion, but we are expecting another baby. This wonderful blessing has added a rather urgent deadline to getting some garage space back for storage and to create more living area in our house. It has been quite a stress having several hundred boxes in our garage and it’s time to call it a day.

I am sorely disappointed, have learnt a lot and don’t regret taking this mammoth project on for a moment. One of these days I’ll probably post about all the things I have learned.

I worked out recently that with the money already raised, it would only cost $15 per box to see it all sent to Zim. (There are 473 boxes of various medical supplies as well as a photocopier). It seemed such a small amount in the grand scheme of things and yet I have learned that fund raising even small amounts takes an enourmous amount of energy which I can afford to give at the moment. And besides, it’s not fund raising that I really want to do. It’s not fund raising that excites me. It’s the incredible possiblities that open up when people’s hearts are impacted with compassion for the poor. A wise friend pointed out to me that fund raising is what happens when people don’t give. What really makes me excited and makes me come alive is seeing people get it for themselves. Seeing people realise what their small contribution can do in a collective effort against poverty. It’s then that we can really do amazing things together that make a real difference for people living in poverty.

So, while this is the beginning of the end of this project (I still have a lot of work to do getting the freight off the ground and onto a ship) it’s not the end at all, but just the beginning of doing new things, doing things better and changing hearts and lives. I still have the little store and once the medical goods are sent to Zim, the proceeds will be going towards another awesome project I look forward to telling you about. So stay tuned. I am looking forward to posting photos of a shipping container packed and ready to set sail.

Thanks to everyone who has got involved and supported this! I really appreciate it!