The pandemic has been challenging for everyone, and non-profits are just as severely affected. Now, more than ever before, our Court's efforts need to double so that we can help even more people who have lost income, are suffering homelessness, and especially help those who may be losing hope.
God has a plan for each of us, and this is a fantastic opportunity to listen for His call to holiness. We want you to know that Court Our Lady of Fatima of the Catholic Daughters of the Americas are here to answer that call, and we invite you to join us.
The need to transition to a more digital platform has been weighing on my mind these past 2 years as Regent, and -- ready or not -- here we go!
Our first challenge in April and May was to conduct our court meetings by email. With various motions and nominations on the agenda, it took DAYS! So then our next task was figuring out videoconferencing. After trying a few options ... Zoom! Done! In between all of this, we made calls to members who are homebound and do not have computers or smartphones. It is so important to keep in touch with ALL of our members. We truly value them as our sisters in Christ.
Now, our summer break from meetings gave us time to regroup. And that left me with the task of trying to figure out how we would set up a Virtual Bake Sale which we had voted on in May. Searching for fundraising ideas online, I found and enlisted the help of Brice Sokolowski of CatholicFundraiser.net. Brice has been helping me wade through the ins and outs of online fundraising. He has been an invaluable resource. Check out his free guide: 10 Commandments of Catholic Fundraising.
So now I can look back and see how God has guided my life to this moment in time. Probably about 6 years ago, I learned how to build a Wordpress site out of necessity for a photo club I managed. (Thank you, Dale!) And this then led to building a few other sites before I saw the need to build one for our Court 4 years ago. And as God would have it, this past May our web host, IONOS, called and offered me a sweet deal if we would switch to their new website builder which included eCommerce -- 3 months free, and now only $20/month (plus the yearly domain fee). Yes, when God closes a door, He opens a window.
So now we are set up to take credit and debit cards for membership dues and donations. Everything is falling into place nicely.
Now, I can honestly tell you that our overhead was pretty low before the pandemic hit, and now it's even lower! God is good!
Firmly planning our path forward, I went to work on the new website and set up an online campaign -- a Virtual Bake Sale. The proceeds will help supply our 2 local food banks: Mary's Mercy Center in San Bernardino, CA, and His Hands Food Pantry in Upland, CA. They have seen a tremendous increase in their food lines since the pandemic shutdown.
It's all pretty amazing, because our only out-of-pocket for the Virtual Bake Sale will be postage for the recipe cards and masks that we mail out. To explain how the bake sale works ... anyone donating $100 or more will receive a "cupcake-design" mask which will be made by our members. The first recipe cards will be typed up, laminated, and mailed out this week -- all materials donated by our members. We hope to feed a lot of families!
Our Court members are the real champions of this campaign, because they will be spreading the word by phone, text, mail, email, and social media. And YOU can be our champions, too! If you can offer us a donation through this Campaign, that would be wonderful! And if you can't do that right now, could you help us by spreading the word about our apostolate and our Virtual Bake Sale by sharing our website address at catholicdaughtersontario.org, or by sharing our Facebook page?
We thank you in advance for helping us share our Virtual Bake Sale so that we can help feed those in need.
God bless you all!
Court Our Lady of Fatima #1387
Catholic Daughters of the Americas
Irene Charrette, Acting Regent
JMJ