The Angel of Hope Community Forum

Not long ago the local city council voted to grant our group use of land in the new city park. This is a nice area of town, but I do envy some of the A of H gardens that have some gentle slopes and trees to adorn their gardens, but we are happy with the land we've been given use of. We could have had the stamped and stained concrete walkway (stained to look like river rock) poured last Fall but it rained too much and too long, so this Spring when the weather is good we will get our walkway. We are far from having the money for the granite statue base or the statue though. Fund raising has been really hard and very stressful. We sent out 170 letters of solitication to the surrounding 4 communities and we received 3 responses. We sent letters to 30 churches within the town's city limits asking for ANY kind of help and received ZERO response. Our town is a population of 10,000 people and we live 3 hours from ANY major city, so the population around here does not give us much to work with. We have just started a cash drawing that will be monthly for 6 months at $25.00 a ticket for chances at winning $200 to $500. We are hoping to seel enough tickets to pay for the granite statue base. We are also getting ready to solicit some potential larger donors to help pay for the Angel of Hope Statue & I am dreading that because I am afraid we'll be in for disappointment....I hope my fears will be unfounded. We're offering to have individual or business names put on a plaque for a donation of $200.00 or more for the Angel of Hope Statue. We also have two other smaller fund raisers planned for this Spring. Right now we have the money to pay for the concrete walkway & a low concrete wall, plus have grant money for the electric and water materials & connections, but still need to raise money for the statue, granite statue base & enough blank memorial bricks to fill in the memorial area...still MUCH work to be done. We have 3 granite benches donated by churches or clubs ordered. Anyone have any suggestions for raisng money or getting people to help? Even the Compassionate Friends Headquarters has told our local chapter that they cannot be associated with this project, although a few members have offered to help on their own time. We'd sure like to hear how some of you managed to involve others.

It is such a strange thing that the National Compassionate Friends will have nothing to do with any angel. We've seen that other places.

In South Bend we had a local credit union match members gifts up to a certain amount. A local dentist did a teeth whitening, people who got their teeth whitened on a certain day he gave us the proceeds. We have a local tire store that does a lube-a-thon once a year. Every oil change that they do on two days in the fall they give the money to us. There are several restaurant chains that have coupon night fund raisers for schools and clubs. They give a percentage (5%-10%) of the money spent by the people who bring in coupons on a specific night.

Go to the closest hospital. Get the chaplain who works with the birthing center involved. He/she can help connect you with other bereaved parents, some of whom are probably business owners, or know business owners, who will want to be involved.