We had our first event to raise money for a local adopting family, the Wingos, whose daughter is an officer in our club. After discussing several fundraising options, we decided to do a glow-in-the-dark dodge-ball tournament! After spreading the word through flyers and phone calls, we had around 9 teams of ten people signed up to play! We were planning on using the gym of one of the young life camps in our area, which they graciously were going to allow us to use for nothing. But, due to weather, we relocated closer to town to the Buena Vista High School Gym, who also graciously allowed us to use the gym for nothing, even with the late notice. Everyone on our team worked together and though we had a few complications (like not being able to set up until 5-10 minutes before the event) we pulled it off! We also recruited a few more teams since we were in town. As soon as everything was set up, and everyone was signed in with his or her team, we cracked all our glow sticks, and lighted all our neon lights, and turned off the lights! Chaos began! We all had a blast! There was a snack bar with homemade brownies, cookies, and drinks, piled over with glowing items! We also had several disco light bulbs, which helped light up the room. With the music and heated tournament going, everyone was entertained. At the end of the night, we counted up the proceeds of the teams and donations from the snack bar, and got a total of $1200!! We were so blessed to be a part of the Wingo family adoption, and look forward to meeting the newest member of their family!

A word of encouragement for teams who may be struggling to come up with a project: I am by no means a professional at this, but it was an amazing learning experience, and you will be so surprised at how your team comes together to make it happen! It doesn’t have to be huge either, just do something, and see where to Lord takes it. I was, and still am amazed at how the Lord worked through our weakness to support this adoption!