Winner of the Bike Drawing

Pictures from the drawing of our winner of the bike raffle: Craig P.

Why We Send Bikes

If you ever wondered why we gather up old bikes, fix them up and send them to Tanzania, please see the NY Times story here read about this unique organization in Chicago that sends bikes around the world to folks who need them here.

Pictures from the 2005 Mission Trip

A picture from Chris and Anita from the 2005 trip to Arusha.

Packing Tomorrow

Here's a packing picture from our 2005 trailer.
Packing tomorrow in the warmth lovely spring weather will be a treat in comparison!

Next Meeting

Our next meeting (other than our packing event & Grace Outreach Ministry weekend May 5th & 6th) will be:

May 22nd at 7pm in the Grace Narthex.

See you there!

Summary of our Tuesday April 24th Meeting

Meeting notes from our April 24th meeting:

Website networking ideas:
1. Goodsearch.com - Carolyn to investigate if we can gather funds by connecting to this search engine.
2. Networking via sixdegrees.org - Carolyn to do, time permitting.
3. Shannon will work on a garage sale postcard/calling card and a donation letter (to be printable, perhaps downloadable from this site)

Team Categories:

1. Organizing:
Anita is contacting folks who can repair bikes. Those willing and able to fix bikes will pick them up and repair them at their own homes as they have time.

2. Bookkeeping:
Our current fund balance is $2300.00.

3. Fundraising:
- The Keep On Truckin' banner will cubic squares for donation/purchase will be unveiled at Mission Outreach Sunday - May 5th/6th.
- Bike Raffle, we have a $600 (value) bike that was donated for us to raffle. Harold is investigating licensing and legal requirements for us to raffle the donated bike.

4. Donation Tracking:
A 3-ring binder will be placed at the container at Steve Potter's house. Each time a group packs the binder someone will track the items placed in the container and jot them on the spreadsheet in the binder. Carolyn will combine the results in a final Excel sheet that can be printed for shipping documentation when we ship the container later this year. (Our goal is Nov/Dec 2007)

Mission Sunday - We will meet at 4pm in the Narthex to set up our Grace4Tanzania table.

Packing the Truck & Kick Off Weekend - May 5th & 6th

Come to Steve Potters house May 5th from 8am to noon to help pack the truck!

1850 167th Lane NW - call or email for directions:

zips at aol.com or anderson.carolyn at gmail.com

We'll be kicking off our "Keep on Truckin'" fund raising to send the shipping container on Mission Saturday/Sunday this same weekend at all services.

Our next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, March 27, 2007 at 7:00pm in the Narthex.

Thursday, March 1, 2007 Meeting Minutes

WEBSITE NETWORKING
The idea of linking with sixdegrees.org was presented. This information will be passed on to Orinne and Pastor Mark for approval. Our understanding is that there would be a one time $25.00 fee to link our website to theirs, opening up the possibility of outside donations. Carolyn as offered to pay this fee as her personal donation.
We also discussed creating a donation letter and garage sale postcards that would be attached to the website so that the congregation could download them and use.


POSSIBLE TEAM CATEGORIES
Organizing
Steve and Anita have a past list of bike repair volunteers that they will contact. At this time we will have those willing/able to participate pick up bikes from Steve’s house to work on from their own homes.

Bookkeeping
The church will work with us to track and save all donations for Grace4Tanzania

Packing

Next meeting, March 27, 2007, we will discuss setting up a packing date at Steve’s and a possible bike repair date for those who will work at Steve’s house.

Bike Maintenance & Repair
(see ‘Packing’ above)

Fundraising
At this time our main focus for fundraising will be “Keep on Truckin’”. This fundraiser will allow the congregation to personally sponsor a square foot/feet of the packing container. The container is 2560 square feet (40x8x8), which means each square foot would require a $5 donation to almost meet our secondary money goals ($12,800 out of $13,200 needed (see goals section below for further explanation)).

Street team
We will revisit this idea is the need arises.

Donation tracking/compiling
As we begin collecting items a team will be needed to document all items for shipping purposes.

DONATION ITEMS FOR COLLECTION
We discussed that creating a donation list will help keep unwanted items to a minimum and will make sure that we collect items that will be of the most benefit to the people of Tanzania.

Immediate items that could be collected are: lawn and garden garbage bags for packing and zip ties for attaching pedals to the bikes as they are prepared for shipping.

We also discussed contacting stores/corporations for damaged stock, as well as contacting Goodwill.

Clothes
Winter? Though it gets cold enough for sweatshirts and fall/spring type jackets, there is not a need for actual winter outerwear.
Plus Sizes? Though plus size people are not abundant, there is still a need for clothing of all sizes.
Hygiene/Medical
Toothbrushes
Cotton balls/swabs
Gauze/band aids/medical tape
Alcohol/Peroxide
Aspirin/Ibuprofen
Soap
Hair brushes/combs
Bikes
We currently have 20-30 bikes that are ready for packing, and 50-100 bikes that are in need of repair. Adult bikes are most likely of more value, but bikes for all ages will be collected. Until the bikes we currently have are ready for shipping, we will not be asking for further bike donations.

Miscellaneous
Linens/blankets
Hand tools
Material/sewing supplies/manual sewing machines
Gardening tools
Backpacks
Five gallon pails w/lids
School supplies
Computers?
Generators
Rubbermaid containers


GOALS
Set goals and track progress regarding:
Bike collections
Goal amount undecided at this time
Monetary collections
Our primary goal is $10,000, which will cover the cost of shipping the container to port and then inland.
Our secondary goal will be $13,200, which will cover the cost of shipping the container, purchasing the next container (which can also be used as a start-up fund should we decide to focus on micro banking or internet installation next), and 10% to tithe to other missions projects at Grace.
Time line
Our goal for shipping is December 2007.


FUNDRAISING BRAINSTORMING
We discussed several fundraising options, but will focus on “Keep on Truckin’” at this time. Should more funds need to be collected, we will then look at other options.
After services dinner/brunch
Krispy Kreme donuts
Discount Cards
Native Choir/’Taste of Tanzania’
Raffle(s)
Silent auction
Car wash
Bake sale
Garage sale(s)
Round Robin parties
Game night (bunco…bingo…)
Parents night out
Cookout/bonfire
Daily planner
Cookbook
Guest speaker
Sponsor a square foot of container


INVOLVING THE CONGREGATION
Sunday School skits during service
Help in serving after service dinner/brunch
Tanzania/Navajo Missions car wash
Health Partners/Group Health…warehouse medical supply collecting and packing
Bike clean up


QUESTIONS FOR PASTOR MARK
The following items were discussed at the meeting, but need to be discussed with Pastor Mark for permission to proceed.
“Keep on Truckin’
We discussed displaying a large banner or cardboard cut out that would represent the shipping container. It would have separate sections representing the square feet that the congregation can sponsor/purchase. This would provide a fun opportunity for the congregation to write their names on the squares in show of their support, it would create an awesome visual effect and would help track our progress allowing the congregation to see how close we are to meeting our monetary goals. Carolyn’s husband works for a printer – first we will se the possibility of a banner and its cost. If that is not doable, then we will construct our own cardboard display.
Designated area for monthly easel/bulletin board?
We discussed setting up a bulletin board on an easel in the Narthex during services one Sunday each month to keep the project visual and fresh.
Account for collected funds through church or separate?
Our understanding is that all funds/donations will go through Grace earmarked for Tanzania – no separate account is needed.
Monthly insert into church bulletin?
We discussed the possibility of inserting a monthly ‘Grace4Tanzania’ newsletter into the church bulletins to keep the project visual and fresh, as well as to educate the congregation on Tanzania and its people.

Overall, we had a great meeting that seemed to generate enthusiasm and excitement. Thank you to everyone who participated!

Next Meeting Time

Our next meeting will be:
Tuesday, February 27th from 7-9pm in the Narthex at Grace.
See you there!

Contact Information

Here is the contact information for all Volunteers.

To prevent "spam" emails I've replaced the @ symbol in email addresses (e.g. name@hotmail.com) with the word: at. Replace the word "at" the @ symbol and you've got the correct email address, which is something spam-bots can't do (yet).

Also, because we've all got the same area code, I've not listed it here in an attempt to protect our privacy a little bit. (Since this information is out there on the world wide web.)

Orinne Jones:

323-4438 / zips at aol.com

Greg & Lori Ackerson:

390-7890 / greg.lori at comcast.net

Wayne & Jodi Andrews:

753-4741

Carolyn Anderson:

227-5549 / 862-6639 / anderson.carolyn at gmail.com

Jan & Jim Anderson:

757-6727 / jmanders at ties2.net

Olivia Bastian:

208-4784 / obastian at gmail.com

Julie, Vicki Cartland:

717-7977

Marty Fisher:

862-2005

Chris Haynes:

862-9196 / csahaynes at msn.com

Michelle Healy:

576-8420 / michelle.l.healy at wellsfargo.com

Jeanne Kloek:

862-8793 or 862-8993

Linda and Harold Matson:

755-3773 / lindasmatson at comcast.net & insurancebrokersmn at comcast.net

Renee Miller:

755-2986 / reneemill at hotmail.com

Joseph Ndeto:

753-1542

Steve Potter:

753-9233 or cell 227-2240

Mike Richgels:

670-8263

Shannon Roberts:

208-4784 / shaylee.roberts at msn.com

Nate, Brenda & Larry Schuerman:

427-6817

Anita Thomas & Karl Sluis:

421-7416 / kjsluis at hotmail.com

What is Grace 4 Tanzania?

Grace 4 Tanzania is a group of volunteers from Grace Lutheran Church led by Orinne and her partner in Tanzania, Paulo. Our mission is to share our material abundance with our sister churchs in rural Tanzania and in turn receive the blessings of learning from our brothers and sisters in Christ there who have an abundance of faith and spirituality.

Our current mission is to gather contributions of gently used bicycles, clothing, linens, computers, school and medical supplies to fill a 40 foot shipping container. Additionally, we are fundraising the cost of sending the shipping container and the funds to move the container in-land in Tanzania to our sister church in the rural areas in and beyond Arusha, Tanzania.