Friends in America

Erin's picture

The Internet of things!


web site screen shotI was having a beer or 3 when I saw a post from someone I went to HS with who was not going to be able to make it to our high school reunion. I wanted to go too, but babies and other responsibilities will keep me away this time.

In about 20 minutes I put together some text, grabbed a picture from Facebook, and added a pay pal button for people to donate cash to the cause. That was Thursday night my time. 
I mailed a few of the popular people in my class and then waited. The next day I posted it to my profile, soon a few class mates with a little prodding were doing the same. That was Friday morning my time. 

By Saturday morning we were up too 340 dollars and not long after that a couple of big donations, you know who you are, came in and we were over the 400 dollar mark. 

I do not like asking people for money personally, but feel this was a great way to show off the school spirit that made my time at Lake Shore High School the reason I would move back there if I could. 
NOTES: Things you might want to be aware of if you try this. 

Pay Pal;

  1. They take a % of your donations as their handling fee. If you need to raise X amount of dollars, shoot for X + 7% to cover that. I did not know this so.  
  2. If you do not have a Pay Pal Account in the USA you can not set up a straight forward donate button that allows people to make what ever donation the feel they want to. Instead I set up 4 different payment sizes ranging from 2 to 50 dollars. ($2.00, $10.00, $20.00, $50.00). 
  3. The easiest way to get the cash to the person you want is through Pay Pal. Have them set up a account and simply choose Send money and enter their e-mail address. 

Facebook and other social media; I like Facebook and twitter they are good ways of staying connected but do not count on it to do all the work for you. You will still need to make people aware of what your doing and post constant updates on progress to keep people interested in the idea. 

Finally, Kim I hope you have a good time. I put up a page and kept people interested (most of them were pretty excited from the start), but the people who donated, really did all the work. 

E./

Erin's picture

Send Kim to LSHS Class of 1990 20 year reunion.


Kim Bloodinski is a girl I went to highschool with. She was on the diving team and as far as I can remember one of the nicest people to be around as a kid. When I think about it, Kim is one of the few people I remember, from all the way back as a kid.

I heard her say on facebook how she could not go to our 20 year reunion and thought; "How much could it cost to get her there?" Well after some checking I realized, about 400-500 dollars. While for most of us 500 dollars is alot to come up with at one time, if we all pitched in, it would be much less.

Lake Shore High School Class of 1990
Total graduating students:283 Plus a couple of us who actually graduated some place else.

Kims Ticket cost Aprox 400 dollars
Kims accomidations: Who can give her couch to crash on? This girl lives with Bobcats I am sure she will be fine anywhere.
Pocket money: To buy you drinks/meals back in thanks for the ticket and any other stuff like that 50-100 dollars.

If you have the money to spare please 1, 2 or 20 dollars would be great. If not you could always offer a couch to crash on or a ride to or from the airport ect.

click here to donate.

We are currently at 70 dollars! (2010 07 30 1800 EST) 

Update We are currently at 140 dollars! (2010 07 31 0230 EST) 

W00T! We are up to 340 dollars! (2010 07 31 1742 or 5:42 PM EST) 

WOW! Mission complete! 440 dollars. (2010 08 01 0836 EST)

You can still donate up till (2010 08 02 1800 (6pm)EST) But as I said mission complete. 



$ Sizes

 

* If we do not have enough money by Monday evening I will refund all donations on Tuesday or Wednesday.