Need fundraising ideas to help missionary priest

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SallyMargie

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Our former pastor decided to become a missionary priest in Venezuela. He is hoping to get a vehicle to help with his work and to transport others living in this dangerous area safely.
Does anyone have any fundraising ideas to help him? Our parish has about 330 families, including many elderly. We are in a somewhat rural area, and also don’t always get a good response when the church needs help with dinners, bake sales, etc. I am somewhat handicapped and can’t always get around well. Would appreciate any and all suggestions. God bless you.
 
the priest can announce that a percentage of the Sunday collection will be sent to that priest, or envelopes will be provided for that purpose and may be put in the regular collection, and ask parishioners to consider raising their giving for this reason. Of course you will have some kind of presentation on his ministry and the reasons you chose to support it. Ongoing reports every few months in the bulletin, his letters, or pictures if possible, will help keep the project alive. depending on rules for your diocese you may have to use special envelopes or have a second collection. find out.

ask a local bakery to donate or give at reduced cost baked goods to sell after Mass, you can also ask parishioners to donate home-baked treats. so you only need one person to coordinate, one to pick up the food, and one to man the table at each Mass (returning the cash box to the sacristy until the next shift). you can recruit them from regular Mass-goers, they only need to give 10-15 minutes of time, and can be done from a wheelchair. Our regular ticket-seller, sign-up sheet supervisor etc. at the early Mass is wheelchair bound, and happy to be able to serve. She also sits at the welcome desk and takes meal tickets for parish socials.

remember a little US money goes a long way in mission territory, so regular updates on how their contribution was spent, or a chart
$10 buys communion supplies for 6 months
or schoolbooks for 10 children
or medicine for a flu outbreak

something similar

even someone who is housebound can be the “secretary” corresponding with the priest, handing on his news etc.
 
Perhaps you can set a amount you want to reach, it might motivate someone to give when they know how much you are hoping to get. You can have a lottery perhaps?
 
How much time do you have? If you can wait until the Spring, I always thought that a plant sale was a good fundraising idea.

I agree with the last poster, you need to have a specific monetary target and if this is a prolonged period (say weeks or months) you should send updates to let people know how close to the target you are approaching.

Or, as others have mentioned, just ask for donations. Have the Priest say, next week we will have a second collection for this cause. Put it in the bulletin the week before (when Father makes his announcement) and on that week when you have the second collection have the missionary Priest either celebrate or concelebrate the Mass and he can give the homily and his “sales pitch”.
 
Do you have any old clothing, toys, utensils or plates, or books you can sell for funds? 🙂
 
There are some Roman Catholic Foundations in the US & the
EU that offer this type of assistence to Priests on mission
in 3rd World Countries. I am an American; but I live in Brazil
where there are still many missionaries from abroad. I used
to do this type of fund-raising for both Catholic Priests &
Medical organizations here in order to help the poor. One of the
first things any missionary priest needs here is a strong &
heavy duty pick-up. The rural areas have NO paved roads &
very often Father must cover long distances to reach his flock
& offer Mass. People in rural areas have no cars.
Since I have been out of this area for a while & things change rapidly, I am not really up-to-date w/info. But you might try
the Koch Foundation in Florida and/or Adveniat in Germany.
Try Googling Roman Catholic Foundations for more names &
addresses. You will then have to fill out alot of papers & need
to get alot of background info from Father. Each foundation
requires different info & you may have to contact a # of places
before you get a positive response…But I always found that help IS out there. The Catholic Extention Society offers aid within
the States; I dont know about abroad. But you might try them for
more info on the subject.
 
These are all wonderful ideas and all worth looking into and very creative. God bless!
 
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