Raincatchers

Forgive me, it has been way too long since I last updated the funds raised through my Sharpen Your Scissors coupon classes. Thank you to the many, many students who have made a $10 donation as a part of the class fee, I know that for many of you this was a tough sacrifice when money was tight.

Together we have raised $4,230!!! That's amazing!

Back in January, when I decided to step forth and publicly teach coupon classes to raise awareness and funding for Raincatchers, I secretly tucked my own personal goal of raising $5,000 during 2009 deep into my heart. I'm so excited to be so close to this dream of mine! Thank you for walking this journey with me and (I hope) sharing in my joy!

Lives are changing, yours, mine, and even the lives of people that we will never meet because of our banding together! Thank you for your generosity!

I've decided to host my best (in my humble opinion) YAY! YAY! GIVEAWAY! ever! When $5,000 has officially been raised I will raffle off a grocery shopping trip with ME as your grocery store tour guide, MY coupons available for spending and $100 out of MY wallet... oh ya, and ME pushing your grocery cart! I can't wait!

*For my new-ish readers, Raincatchers is the grass roots organization that I decided to partner with after my husband Dave spent a week equipping some of the poorest Haitian families with the means to gather the cleanest drinking water available.

The beautiful mountainside of Seguin, Haiti is the starting location from where the Raincatcher's volunteer teams venture out across the mountainside. These teams carry all of the items necessary to build a Raincatcher, a rough gutter system that catches the rain water from the tin roof, directs the water through a series of filtration systems and empties the water into a 55 gallon barrel as a holding tank.

Raincatchers change the course of life for the Haitian families lucky enough to receive a Raincatcher. Life without a Raincatcher often means that the children from each family are forced to take a two hour hike (each way) to the nearest source of fresh (non-salt) water. The closest water source is also where animals bathe and where clothing is laundered, this source is not clean water.

Exchanging my shopping skills for a $10 donation to Raincatchers seemed like a win-win situation all of the way around. I enjoy teaching, I could show my husband how much I value his passion for caring for the needs of others and Raincatchers could benefit from the financial support.

If you have any questions about Raincatchers or the Sharpen Your Scissors classes, please feel free to email me at sharpenyourscissors(@)gmail(.)com.