Need ideas for benefit for Travis' family, the 11

VLong

New Member
year old boy who was struck and killed 3 weeks ago in front of my home. I have to do something besides fall back into a depression, so I want to do a benefit or fundraiser for his family, but have NO IDEA where to start or what to do. I do have the committment of a major radio personality in the St. Louis area to promote whatever I come up with on TWO radio stations she works for...she is an angel. She is also going to donate some things for an auction or raffle and make a personal appearance. Now, all I have to do is figure out what, where, how and find some other people to help me out with this.

Any ideas? Any that you have done that have had good success?

ANY ideas or thoughts at this point would be sooooooo appreciated, just to help me get the ball rolling.

Thanks!
Vicki :its_all_good:
 

AllStressedOut

New Member
I would call Travis' school and see if you can hold a benefit silent auction there. Go to local businesses and ask for donations of items or gift certificates. Advertise in the school news, if the ISD has a website, on there, through the radio station etc. If you make it into a family event you could run a fall carnival and charge for tickets. Make up games and see if you can get a bounce house rental donated. Get volunteers to run it all so all the overhead goes to his family. If the school has a Parent/Teacher organization, ask them if they've hosted a carnival before, they may have all the games you need. Ask a place like Chuck-E-Cheese to donate some prizes for the kids games. The organization may also have plenty of parent volunteers you can utilize. If your radio station angel knows any local talent, maybe she can MC in the gym with a local band playing music and have a dance area.

My heart breaks for his family.

Good luck with your endever. What a great thing to do for them! (((hugs)))
 

Marguerite

Active Member
A trivia night with a costume theme - something fun, something with maybe a cartoon theme. What was Travis's favourite movie or cartoon? That could be a starting point maybe? Unless you want to completely get away from anything that will bring people down.

I'll keep my thinking cap on.

Marg
 

SRL

Active Member
That's great you're doing this--I'd be needing something to do if I were in your shoes as well. What a heartbreaker!

I would only do a benefit or fundraiser 1) if the family was in
dire financial need and was short in covering hospital/funeral expenses or 2) you had a designated charitable recipient already lined up such as his school, a scholarship, etc. Let people know in advance exactly where the funds will be going and they'll be more apt to give.
 

skeeter

New Member
see if there's a "folk music society" or such in your area. Most of the members of groups such as this have no problems with volunteering to play music for a cause (we do it all the time). Tell them they will get free publicity on all posters and announcements.

Many restaurants (Applebee's is one) have nights where they donate procedes to a specific group or charity.
 

susiestar

Roll With It
I have had good success with a Truck Touch as part of a carnival, or a stand alone event. You get a bunch of trucks (cement mixer, fire truck, ambulance, bulldozer, etc...) and have them in a parking lot where the kids can climb in them and explore them. We charged $2 for an unlimited access to the area. (other groups I know of have charged for a specific amount of time, but that seems like a lot of work to operate.)

Police and Fire Depts were on hand to show their vehicles, and the operators of other vehicles were there also. Many ofhte companies with the big trucks have stickers, etc.. for free that they will bring.

Be sure to say that a parent needs to be with them, otherwise it can be chaotic.

This would be a nice thing to have along with a carnival helped by the PTA.

It is the kind of thing an 11yo might like to do.

John Deere and Ditch Witch have promotional materials, coloring books, etc and might send them along with tractors or whatever. Ask the local dealers, or PM me and I will get a ocntact for Ditch Witch. (They are located near us).

Hugs,

Susie
 

mstang67chic

Going Green
I did a benefit a couple of years ago for our local drive in after their screen blew down. We had about 6 bands play and had it all at the drive in. I made sure that the bands were "family friendly" and charged by the car load instead of by the head. The owners of the drive in also had their concession stand open so we had food.

Something like that would work though if you have a good cheap/free location and all but one of the bands did it for free. (The one that wanted money was basically just for gas since they came from a distance away and I had no problems with that) We got area businesses to donate stuff for prizes and we also sold tickets for a 50/50 drawing. (the winner gets half of the money and the drive in got half) We also had a local radio station promoting it and it drew people in from all over the area.

I had also contacted some celeberties to see if they would donate items and got a couple of things from that.

A guy I work with just did a memorial golf outing for the family of a guy that used to work with us. He was killed in a car accident and left behind a young wife and very small children.

Golf outings (weather permiting), benefit concerts, bingo night, Vegas night, carnivals.....basically anything you can think of can be turned into a benefit. Good luck and if you need any other help or ideas let us know!
 

VLong

New Member
Thank you all for all of the ideas! I am thinking of a Trivia Night with a silent auction and raffle.

or

A Chili Cook Off, or a spaghetti dinner and/or dance, pancake breakfast...

As you can tell, my mind is full of ideas. I am leaning towards the trivia night since, by the time we get it organized, it will be winter and my chili cookoff would be kinda chilly :smile:

I spoke with Travis' mom, Michelle, for the first time since the accident last weekend. She told me that her ex husband is keeping all the money that was donated at the funeral and she doesn't even have enough money to buy a headstone. I guess most of the money was given in Travis' name and since he lived with his dad for the last 6 months he feels entitled to keep all of it, to use for who knows what. But, that is between them. My benefit is going to be for Michelle in memory of Travis. The family really doesn't have much. Living paycheck to paycheck, 3 other boys to raise and I just keep putting myself in her shoes. She asked me to please put the money in her name or mine, but I am leaning towards a trust fund of some sort that only she has access to.

For her, and for Travis, I don't care if I only raise $50. I just HAVE to do this. My angel at the radio station has given me names of general managers of other radio stations to call in the area and told me to tell them that she and I have spoken and she wanted me to call them. I just have to spend some time getting in touch with everyone I want involved and go from there.

I am going to my mom's 50th high school reunion, leaving tomorrow morning at 5am, this weekend in Texas with Alex, Justin and Ashley (the mommy-to-be on Jan 1!) and plan on really enjoying myself and relaxing and then coming home to get to planning all of this. I so need the 4 days away right now.

Thanks again and I will let you know how things are going and if I need more help and advise, I do know all of you are out there!!

Vicki
 
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