Feed their minds, Fund their futures

This year - 2010 - we are adding a third theme to our fundraising activities; as well as Run for the Fund and Make Music Give Hope, we are also inviting people to raise funds through food related activities, so that we can feed the minds and fund the futures of Zambian orphans.

Education feeds the minds of orphans and vulnerable children, and this in
turn helps them put food on the table for their families in the future. So this year our fundraising theme is food and drink.

We already have a healthy tradition of foody fundraising in Cecily's Fund including;

• Themed meals - for example, our Swiss supporters organise regular pumpkin soup lunches - here are some pumpkin soup recipes for you to try.
• Fancy dinners - like the exquisite three-course dinner served during our annual fundraising opera >>more information and booking forms
• Cake stalls - we've held a couple of these ever popular events on the business park where the Cecily's Fund office is based. Julie's Malteser Cake is a firm favourite! Hold a bring and buy cake sale at your place of study or work.
• Harvest festivals - many of the churches and schools that kindly support Cecily's Fund hold events around Harvest Festival time to raise funds and awareness.
• Home made produce - one loyal supporter sells her hens' eggs and donates the proceeds to us. Supporters in Switzerland made the beautifully packaged quince jelly and pumpkin pies, pictured above and below, to sell at the pumpkin soup lunch event.

New ideas so far this year include mystery dinner parties with exotic menus, supporters publishing their own cookery books packed with favourite recipes, sponsored slims and even a sponsored challenge to live on just £10 a week.

Schools can participate by having themed school dinners with a supplement paid towards Cecily's Fund or suggesting students they skip snacks for a week and donate what they save. Home economics teachers may want to challenge their students to create cakes, pies or even whole meals which could be sold in school or to parents to raise money for Cecily's Fund. >>more ideas on how schools can help

Do you have an idea for turning food into funds for Zambian orphans? Please let us know what you are planning!

Please note: Apart from providing school lunches for the children at Bwafwano's community school in Lusaka, Cecily's Fund does not feed the children we support. We supply them with the shoes, uniforms, books pens and help with any fees they need to enable them to go to school. For more information please see What we do.