First Trust Reply

Hi everyone,

This month has been very busy, mostly writing letters to various charitable trusts. After 300 envelopes and about 100 stamps had arrived, I could get started . What was also very exciting was that my leaflets were printed and have arrived! If you would like some to pass around friends and colleagues please email me at elleneam@gmail.com, and I'll post some to you.

 However, the best news came this morning in the post. When I saw that it was a letter from a trust, I assumed it would be negative, as it was the first one. I was overjoyed when I saw that the Zeta Trust had generously donated £200 towards my trip. My total is now about £1,000, almost a fifth of the way there!

I've got a busy few weeks ahead, in the run up to Christmas: I'm doing baking for the school christmas concert on Tuesday, and then another bake sale at school on the 18th. With the help of some family and friends I am also hoping to do some carol singing, so if you are free around the 18th, like singing and want to give us a hand, I would be really grateful for any extra help.

That's all for now, and I hope everyone has a good Christmas,

Ellen

Successful bake sale

Well last weekend consisted of a lot of baking! Crispy cakes, rocky roads, toppers (those marshmallows with the smarties on top), tablet and cupcakes were all made. Altogether I recon I made over 200 cakes!

I took all of my baking to school and held the bake sale on Tuesday, at break time. Lots of people came, and I went round classes afterwards to sell what was leftover. By the time I got home I only had 10 toppers and some tablet crumbs left!

Altogether I raised £97.50

So I would like to say a massive thank you to my mum who did a lot of the baking (and washing up)! Also to all of the 6th years who helped me set up, sell the cakes and clear up afterwards, and especially Beth who gave up her free period to come round classes with me afterwards to sell what was left. I also have to thank my dad for giving me (and all of my cakes) a lift to school in the car, and also to everyone at Portobello High School who bought a cake!

Don't worry if you missed the bake sale - there will be lots more, the next one will be on Tuesday 18th December.

In other fundraising news I've finished designing my leaflet! I'm just looking for a place where I can print them off inexpensively, so if you know of anywhere, please feel free to comment. The leaflet did take me ages to design, but It's looking pretty good, and I'll try to upload a picture to the blog when I have the final design.

I have also been writing to some more supermarkets about bag packing, no responses yet, but fingers crossed some will come through in the next few days.

And lastly a big thanks to anyone who has donated online. We have already raised £680 online!

Thanks for reading this post, hope you found it interesting and I really appreciate everyone's support.

Fundraising Started!

Hi everyone!

Yesterday I headed up to the reference library with my friend Kirsty, who will also be taking a year out with project trust, and together we researched trusts. For those of you who don't know, charitable trusts are bodies that are set up to give out money to worthy causes. The average volunteer gets about £1,000 from trusts, so I really wanted to make good use of them. We got the names of about 50 trusts we're eligible for, so not a bad afternoon!

I also planned out my fundraising ideas, I don't want to give away too much, but a ceilidh, carol singing, and of course a lot of bake sales are planned! Today I am also going to be writing to supermarkets about bag packing, and I will be designing my leaflet which will tell people about what I'm doing (I'll try and upload a copy to the blog when it's done). I also got my first online donation today, so a big thank you to Claire!

However, the big news for today is my new "Buy a day in Honduras" idea. What happens is you pick a day, week or month of the year that is special to you. You could pick your birthday, anniversary or you might wonder what Christmas, Hogmanay or the holidays are like in Honduras. In return, I'll send you a postcard when I'm in Honduras, on your day, week or month, telling you what I get up to. A day can be bought for £15, a week for £90 or a month for £350. To pick your day, click here, donate the amount and simply write the date you want in the comments box. For more information have a look in the side bar.

That's it for now, and I'd like to thank you for your ongoing support.

Hi everyone! Just got my letter through today saying I've been selected to go to Honduras!

I will be teaching English to Primary- school aged children, and I can't wait to go! I will be going with a charity called project trust.

Here's some facts about Honduras:

Capital city:  Tegucigalpa
Language: Spanish
President: Porfirio Lobo Sosa
Size:  43,000 square miles
Population: Over 8,000,000

Next challenge, raising the money! This weekend I'll be heading down to the Edinburgh reference library, so I can start writing to some trusts. I've got a few fundraising ideas, and I'll post on here event details as they happen.

In the meantime, anything you can give will be a massive help: donate here


Thanks for reading, and I'll keep this site updated.