Fundraising

Programs like this don't happen for free...

Water Safety Vietnam is a non-profit organisation and relies on volunteer members, trainers and teachers. All volunteer AUSTSWIM teachers that go to teach children's and community swimming programs are required to contribute to the costs of their travel as well as promoting the organisation's vision and passion for reducing the drowning rates in Vietnam. Yeh, sure you could just pay your way but that's not the point. You really need to get the message out there.

In the meeting with Pam, I was told about how in Vietnam it is illegal to gamble and one way to over come this in horse racing is that the 'punters' buy the horse in the race and then the winning horse owner gets the prize money. This gave me an idea for my fundraising.

In April the community I work in (Poowong, Victoria) were holding a Family Fun Day. I am a school teacher in the local primary school and I'm fairly well known by the families and able to use the opportunity of the fun day to raise some funds for my trip and to promote awareness of the cause. I wanted an activity that would be interactive, inexpensive and fun. Using the idea planted by Pam, I decided I would would a race course where the participants purchase a marble and then race them on the racetrack. There are many different ways in which fundraising occurs. Chocolate drives, garage sales, book clubs, raffles, some have even shaved their heads or even more painful; waxed their legs. I wanted to do something I hadn't seen done before and something fun for the children (we know they have the ability to convince parents to spend money). Although it was quite a feat, I built a 3 metre marble race which gave multiple paths to travel and one clear winner. On completion of the track I had another idea to get my friends involved. I decided to sell marbles to my friends on Facebook and then film a tournament which results in a tournament winner. Within an hour I had sold out of marbles in the first race (16 marbles in total) and had to open another tournament. This too sold out in a short time, that's 32 marbles in total at a price of $5.00ea  and I didn't even need to leave home... It was a great interactive way of raising money. A little ingenuity and fundraising can be quite fun.

Facebook Marble Race Introduction Video

One thing I have learnt over my journey is that the amount of effort that you put into your fundraising needs to be balanced with the potential for raising funds. Get as many people involved and spread the word.

The family fun day stall was easy to organise and didn't require a lot of effort to run. All I had to do was set up and let the people come. I did have the help of Adam who had previously trailed the marble run at his fundraising swimathon and then assisted in running the stall at the Poowong Family Fun Day. The children came and played on the race, purchasing marbles to race and having fun while I had a chance to spread the Water Safety Vietnam message.

A local primary school which also as their own pool was willing to hold a gold coin donation for Earth Day with the theme of blue to represent water.

Thank you to everyone who supported my fundraising and encouraged me to participate in this amazing project.