Fundraising

Happy May everyone and Happy Mother's Day next Sunday. I am writing about our chapter and some changes we need to make regarding bringing in money for EXPO first timers, education, scholarships, etc. Once upon a time, our workshop and vendor's fair was a great way to bring in money for the chapter, however, times have changed. Where we used to get up to 50 attendees, we now get 20, and where we used to have upwards of 10 vendors, we are lucky to get 5. Vendors have changed their spending when it comes to CEUs and Vendor's fairs.

We are considering sponsoring a quarter auction fundraiser next October. The Blue Star Mothers, of which I am a member, and the Women Warrior Veterans have held quarter auctions recently, bringing in a net of over $5,000 each. I believe this is something we can do to bring in funds, while having a fun time. It will take work; we will need donations so we can make baskets, we need some higher priced items for a Chinese Auction, hopefully which carry a certificate of authenticity and the like. We are thinking of having it on a Tuesday evening, so not to go against Saturday sports, Friday night football, etc. It would be from 6:00 P.M. - 9:00 P.M. and we are thinking of holding it at Rusty's Raw Bar in Ft. Myers. It would cost us nothing to get the room, there are plenty of seats, and the Blue Star Mothers are willing to share the paddles, etc. so we don't have to rent or purchase. We know someone to be the "auctioneer" and we could have some vendors from the area supply baskets and have a table to sell their wares.

We can still have our workshop providing education and CEUs and vendors, but it wouldn't be our main fundraiser and whatever we make would still help our chapter.

Please take a moment and just send a one-word response as to your thoughts, yeah or nay, so we can proceed and make plans. Once we have items donated, we would need an evening or two to get them in baskets, wrapped in cellophane, and ready for the quarter auction!

Thank you, and please make sure you are a member of AORN Chapter #1010. If you aren't, please contact AORN to add your name and information to the roster. If you know anyone wanting to rejoin or join, please have them contact AORN.

Thank you for your support and we will keep you posted.

Sandi Falk, BSN, RN, CNOR-PEDS, FCN
President, Chapter #1010 ShellCoast