Pictures from Fundraising!

Lots of stuff, eh??

Another great fundraising idea! A friend suggested a spaghetti dinner. Set a night and invite friends/neighbors to the dinner. Have your kids work as waiter or busboy or whatever needs to be done. I suggested that bunch of families get together to work together to figure out the logistics!

Be creative!

April Update

23 kids signed up. I have about 10 more kids whose applications I have not yet received. Have you checked MNKODA website? They got some neat events going on! Milwaukee carwash fundraising will be in May! If you want your kid to earn money through the car wash. Contact Janet Kunz at jkunz2@wi.rr.com for additional information. Madison carwash is still pending. Need to confirm a place. This is a great way to raise funds! Remember, anytime the kid do any type of fundraising in Wisconsin, all the funds go to pay for that child's camp, NOT for any other kids.

The cookie dough/pizza sale in March was very, very successful! Many thanks to Janet Kunz for coordinating this and to the families who have done their share. According to Janet, they were the top sellers! Since this was very successful, there is a plan to do it again next year but the fundraising will be in April, not February/March.

Dont forget to attend the KODA camping during the weekend of August 6th at the Mirror Lake State Park! I got my park sticker already! Did you??

WAD Conference is coming up in June. Plans are making to have some kind of KODA related activities there. Watch for additional information!

March Update

I am getting applications every week. The deadline is May 15th so I can have a good count of how many kids will be at the camp so we can have enough counselors. The ratio of counselors is 6 kids to one counselor. So far we have 17, this means 3 counselors.

The camp is waiting for us to stay with them. The staff are looking forward to work with us. No agenda have worked out yet. This year, the water park the kids are going to will be the Mount Olympus in Wisconsin Dells.

I contacted each state to find out if there is an organization that could help with financial aid. I am still searching for financial aids. Fundraising is very hard but it can be done. Wisconsin is planning to host two car washes, one in Milwaukee and one in Madison. This is a good fundraising and good for the kids to work together. All you need is at least 10 people to work with and a place to sponsor such as a gas station or a food store.

As always, I am here to help you.

Application Form

I have been trying to upload the application on this blogspot. I have not been successful with it. I will need to play with it a little more. In meantime, please contact me for the form at karen5d@yahoo.com. Thanks.

Mirror Lake State Park Camping

It is offical! The dates have been picked for the next WIKODA camping and it is August 6 to 10th!! Sarah and few others have reserved the campground #301, 302, 303 and 306 (I think) and that is limit to 80 people. Be sure to pay Sarah Peeks (peeks_05@yahoo.com) $3.00 per person asap. There is a waiting list but some people may back out. Check with Sarah!

For those who prefers popups or rv or other type of camping than tents, be sure to contact the Park directly yourself.

FundRaising Idea

Janet Kunz is helping to pass out information to parents who may be interested in doing fundraising to be able to afford the $800 to send their kid to the KODA Camp this year. This is a fun event and many of you are expert in this. Joe Corbis Company is the place where we sell their products. There are many good stuff in the catalog. I couldn't make copies of every page but you can go to their website, wwwjoecorbisdirect.com and get additional information or contact Janet Kunz to mail you the catalog. Her email is jkunz2@wi.rr.com or vp at 262-703-0556. Remember, the deadline is March 14th!!

WIKODA Bowling on Jan 31st

The event at the KingPin Bowling Alley in West Bend to raise funds for the WIKODAs was fun! It was great to see 20+ kids bowling for a cause! Pictures will be included at a later date. Eight six dollars was raised! Kudos to Denise Pribnow and Sarah Peeks for their hard work!

Next event?!! PLENTY! For sure, WAD conference on June 18th and 19th and WIKODA Camping from August 6th to 9th at the Mirror Lake State Park.

Donation/Sponsor Letter

Yikes, you think, $800 for my child to go to a KODA camp? You think it is not worth the cost to send the kid to the camp plus you have to think about the transportation, etc. I know! I agreed with you. I have five KODAs and when I sent my first one to a camp and she came home with such a positive attitude about deaf parents and their culture, especially sign language, I thought to myself, ALL KIDS SHOULD GO!! Ouch, it is expensive. Well, that is the cost to run the camp per kid. Many other day camps have already established many years of fundraising and have many backings. My job is to find any backing that would contribute to the camp every year.

So what should you do? I have talked to many other parents and they send out letters to any organizations, work places, church places or even your relatives and your relatives' contacts. One KODA was able to raise funds from her relatives. One KODA was able to raise funds from church group. There are plenty possibilities but you must do it yourself, actually a KODA should do it. A ten dollar times 80 contacts bring in $800 easily!

Need a sample letter? Sure, I have included it at the bottom. Change it to fit your needs. Make it personal, write it to say why it is so important for KODA to go. You need to do it now to give supporters time to have their meetings, time to get funds. Be sure to followup with a thank you note! It also doesnt hurt to followup to see if they have received your letter if you have not heard from them within reasonable amount of time.

SAMPLE Letter:

I am xx years old and my brother is xx years old, we are requesting monetary donation to help our parents to send us to a camp called KODA camp this summer. It will be at the MacKenzie Center of Poynette, Wisconsin. It is the only one of the handful camps in the United States that are especially designed for children of deaf parent(s).

Here is the Midwest KODA camp information at www.wikoda.blogspot.com.

We really would like to attend this camp. It cost $800 per person for two weeks. We want to learn how to feel comfortable having deaf parent(s) as well as to share experiences with other children of deaf parents similar to us. The deadline for signing up for the camp is May15th, 2009.

We appreciate any monetary donations you can give to us. Thank you very much for your considerations. Here is our home address, .............

Thank you.

Both kids sign

Good luck! Be sure to sign up your kid now! If you have any questions, please do contact me.