Christmas Shopping that Helps Hope Clinic!

The Learning Express in Cool Springs is partnering with Hope Clinic to offer a great deal to all of our supporters. Go to the store Monday, November 16th through Friday, November 20th and tell them that you're there because of Hope Clinic (or download this coupon) to receive 10% off your purchase. In addition, 10% of the proceeds will go directly to Hope Clinic. You get a discount on great toys and gifts and Hope Clinic gets to help bring hope and healing to more clients--what a great opportunity!

If you're not familiar with the Learning Express, they pride themselves on being "your neighborhood toy store." They try to seek out unique toys that catch their eyes for having lots of play value. The Learning Express is filled with learning toys, infant toys, baby toys ... unique toys that will delight children of all ages! Check out their website here>>

Runner Spotlight: Derek Martin

Derek Martin has been participating in the run for 18 years. He first got involved through his church and has continued to support Hope Clinic despite many changes in his life during that time. As a high school student when he began doing the run with his father, it would have been easy to find other interests or causes to support and stop participating as he got older but his commitment to Hope Clinic remained strong.

In 2006, Derek served in the Army in Iraq for 11 months and returned home just in time for the run that year. He could have easily and understandably sat out that year but he and his father, Jerry, were both there that cold October morning to support Hope Clinic. Derek’s passion for the Hope Clinic and the run are summed up in his own words:

“Life is precious and Hope Clinic saves lives,” Derek says.

We asked him a few questions recently about his commitment to Hope Clinic and how he raises pledges to help “save lives.” We hope that his story of commitment and perseverance encourages and inspires you!

What are your strategies for raising pledges? Casting a wide net, persistence, pleading, and sometimes mild threats (just kidding)

Any tips for new fundraisers? Small donations add up. Don’t be afraid to ask people.

Additional comments? God bless Hope Clinic!

Thank you Derek for your commitment to life and your service to defend our country!

Runner Spotlight: Gwen's Gotcha Day Team

Gwen's Gotcha Day Team in 2006

Joyce Beard and Gwen Wilkinson of Gwen’s Gotcha Day Team are more than just co-workers and run team co-captains, they share a bond that goes much deeper—adoption!

Joyce first heard about Hope Clinic through a presentation at Donelson Church of Christ in 2006. Because of her personal connection to our ministry as an adoptive mother, she became a volunteer. She shared about Hope Clinic with one of her co-workers, Gwen Wilkinson, who is an adoptee and told her about the run event that was coming up.

That year, the date of the run was actually on the 40th anniversary of Gwen’s “Gotcha Day.” This is a day that Gwen and her family celebrate because it is the anniversary of the day that they “got” Gwen and adopted her. With so many connections to the mission of Hope Clinic, Joyce and Gwen formed a team that year and named it in honor of this anniversary and to celebrate the ways their lives have been touched by adoption. That’s where the name “Gwen’s Gotcha Day Team” came from.

“We have both been personally touched because of two young women that decided to carry their babies to term,” Gwen says. “We decided to chair a team so that other families could have ‘gotcha days’ too!”

We asked Gwen’s Gotcha Day Team to share about their experiences participating in the run and how they raise pledges to encourage and inspire you as you fund raise. Hope you enjoy it!

What are your strategies for raising pledges? We like to tell a personal adoption story with our initial request to friends and family. We have used different stories each year; thankfully, our families have multiple adoption stories. Additionally, Joyce has a heart for helping women experiencing a crisis pregnancy because she herself faced that situation when she was 16. We also look for grants and scholarships at our workplace and church. [Gwen and Joyce discovered that their workplace gives a $100 for each participant from their company so they do registration drives and publicize at their work to help raise money for their team!]

Any tips for new fundraisers? Instead of birthday gifts, we asked for donations for the team.

Additional comments? We think the difference that we have is really that we have a personal link to the cause. When you are passionate about your cause, it's easy to talk about it.

Thank you Joyce, Gwen and the entire Gwen's Gotcha Day Team for your heart for Hope Clinic and your efforts to ensure more 'gotcha days!'

"Wash for Life" Benefits Hope Clinic!

We are blessed to have Antioch Church of Christ planning a "Wash for Life" event on Saturday, September 19th that will benefit Hope Clinic. This event will take place from 12-2pm at Antioch Church of Christ at 2142 Antioch Pike. There will be face painting, a lemonade stand and of course an opportunity to get your car washed for a great cause!

Please plan to attend Tennessee's only Wash for Life event and contact Mandy Singleton at msingleton@hopeclinicforwomen.org if you're interested in volunteering. All proceeds benefit Hope Clinic for Women and help us bring hope and healing to hurting women in our community.

The Wash for Life is an annual pro-life youth event. On the same day, groups of youth all over the country hold a car wash in their own home town and donate the money to a local Pregnancy Care Center. This way, they participate in a national event while at the same time helping their own community. This year’s Wash for Life will be on September 19 and Antioch Church of Christ is the only location in Tennessee so far. Thank you so much Elizabeth Becker and Antioch Church of Christ for your generosity and we hope to see all of you there!

Runner Spotlight: Heather Littlefield and The Living Stones

Heather Littlefield has been volunteering at Hope Clinic since earlier this year helping with projects and mailings around the office. She first got involved with Hope Clinic after our CEO, Renee Rizzo, spoke to Heather’s Sunday school class at The Donelson Fellowship. That’s also where Heather first learned about the Fun for Life event and the run.

“Personally, my husband and I wanted to find a Christian organization that was actively pro-life,” Heather says about why she decided to get involved with Hope Clinic. “After Renee spoke to our class at church we were blown away by all the Hope Clinic does. As a group, our Sunday School class has sort of adopted the Hope Clinic as a community outreach that we could all be a part of and support.”

Heather and her Sunday school class formed a team called the Living Stones in August and began raising money to support Hope Clinic in some very creative ways. Although this is their first year to participate in the event and the fact that they only started a month ago, The Living Stones have raised over $1,200 and supported 10 clients. That’s an amazing effort by this team and their team will be featured on all the Fun for Life event shirts in honor of their accomplishment!

Heather recently took time to answer a few questions about how they were able to reach their goal and with almost a month to spare before the event. We hope that Heather and the Living Stones’ story encourages and inspires you as you raise pledges to support Hope Clinic clients!

What are your strategies for raising pledges? I sent out an email to everyone in my contacts explaining what the event was about and how they could help. I also mailed out a few hand written notes a few days after the email was sent. As a team, we had two bake sales after Sunday night services at our church. The day of the second bake sale we announced that we would be selling $100 cup cakes! Of course no one would pay $100 for a cup cake, but people would donate $100 to the Hope Clinic for Women. This created a buzz about the bake sale and we had a pretty good turn out because of it. We also made and sold bracelets to support our team. We had so much fun spending time together making them and were even able to donate some to Hope Clinic!

Any tips for new fundraisers? The majority of our donations came from personally asking people to give, either face to face, email, or letters. Don’t be afraid to ask, you never know who will give until you do!

Additional comments? The girls in the office have been a pleasure to work with over the past few months. After several group volunteering nights with them, our class feels like they are just an extension of our class. We look forward to the continuing relationship with them.


We love having Heather around the office and getting to know her Sunday school group too! If you're interested in getting your group involved, Fun for Life is a great and enjoyable way to do that. We also have many other volunteer opportunities so please check out our website for more information about how you and your group can volunteer!

www.hopeclinicforwomen.org

Golf Tournament to Benefit Hope Clinic!

People have often asked us why we don’t have a golf tournament for Hope Clinic for Women. Well, we are blessed to announce that Southeast Financial (one of our business sponsors) is doing their 8^th Annual Golf Tournament Monday September 21^st at Old Natchez. All proceeds are being split between United Cerebral Palsy and Hope Clinic for Women! You can Sign up for either a day or evening shift to play.

Click here to download the brochure and registration form>>

Please contact Renee Rizzo for more information at rrizzo@hopeclinicforwomen.org

Runner Spotlight: Amanda the Intern

You’ve met our wonderful intern Amanda before in a previous blog but now she’s making news again as a team captain for Run for Life 2009!

Last year at Fun for Life, Amanda preformed with her choir group and they also helped volunteer with tear down and clean up after the event.

“I really enjoyed Fun for Life, and definitely wanted to be more involved for this year’s event,” says Amanda. “This will be my first year participating in the run and fundraising part of the event.”

Although Amanda is still a student at Belmont University and dedicated intern to Hope Clinic, she decided to form a run team this year. She recently took a few moments to answer some questions about her experience forming a team, raising pledges and especially how surprised she is by how easy it really is! Hope that her story encourages and inspires you and your team…

Why do you participate? Hope Clinic does so much for the community and individual families, and it is a ministry that is close to my heart. An organization very much like Hope Clinic offered support to my mother while she was pregnant with me, so I am very thankful for places like Hope Clinic!

What are your strategies for raising pledges? Email, Facebook link, telling friends about the 5K and encouraging them to join my team—just spreading the word about the event and Hope Clinic’s mission.

Any tips for new fundraisers? When signing up for the “First Giving” page and sending out your first email, personalize it! Add a story about why you support Hope Clinic or your goal for the run, etc. By personalizing your First Giving page and the email you send out for fundraising, it shows potential donors how excited you are about the organization. Most of my donations were received because I sent out a personalized email to friends and family—and they were all more than willing to help out when they saw how excited I was about Hope Clinic!

Additional comments? At first, I was a little reluctant about the whole fundraising thing because it is sometimes tough asking for money (especially in this economic climate) but it was SO easy! Not only is it easy to set up all your information on the website, but the email makes it really simple to let potential donors know about what you are doing for Hope Clinic and why, and most people are more than excited to help out a little bit! So if you are a first time fundraiser, don’t let that discourage you!