We all can use more Friends

About four years ago, my daughter Val dragged me into an artist’s co-op. I know, I don’t consider myself an artist, but the term was used pretty loosely. Like any other organization, we needed to raise funds, but more importantly, we needed to find people who wanted to be involved, warm bodies to volunteer their time and efforts, to spread the word, to share their knowledge and talents. When we started planning our first event, the organizers called it a friend-raiser.

I googled “friend-raiser” and found a wide array of events. Many of these were another avenue to solicit donations, substituting the word “friend” for “fund” to lull people into a false sense of security for their wallets. I am sure that attendees quickly saw through that guise, or hopefully realized this was the purpose before they even arrived.

To my totally uneducated mind in the realm of nonprofit organization, my definition of a friend-raiser is simply what it says. During this one day out of the year, we don’t want your money. Instead we want your brilliant mind, your strong back, your quick wit, your technical savvy. We want whatever it is you can bring to the table to help our nonprofit reach its goals. We also would love you to bring all your friends who do have money, so we can get their contact information for when we do have a fund-raiser.

And that, dear followers, is what our nonprofit organization, Tumaini Volunteers, hopes to achieve on Sunday June 1 when we host our first “friend-raiser”. Come learn about our mission and vision, spend time getting to know us, enjoy some good food and drink, see the Kenyan arts and crafts which have made the long journey to central Wisconsin. And don’t forget to bring one or two of your own friends so that they can become our friends.

See you at Sunnyvale Park in Wausau, Wisconsin, on June 1 any time between noon and four.