Community Corner
West Bloomfield Woman's Year of Giving Celebrates Milestone Birthday
Rachel Thorp is more than half way to her goal of raising $3,000 for her favorite charities by the end of the year.
Some people think about giving during the holidays, but West Bloomfield resident Rachel Thorp has been thinking about it all year long.
To mark her 30th birthday, Thorp launched a "Year of Impact" fundraising drive to raise $3,000 by the end of the year. As friends planned cool activities to celebrate their landmark birthdays, she wondered what she could do that would "make me better as a person".
In January, she learned about a cousin whose sister-in-law was killed and brother-in-law was critically injured in a terrible car accident. The couple had three small children.
Thorp knew she didn't have the money herself to make a large contribution to the family, but she could share a link with her large network of Facebook friends. The larger fundraising idea "kind of spiraled from there."
"I decided to raise money for causes that are important to me," she said. "I'm broke, I have no money, but I have a large network."
Thorp put together a list of causes that are important to her, including:
- Becca Bartlett Memorial Fund - http://www.gofundme.com/BeccaBartlettMemorialFund
- KIVA loans - http://www.kiva.org
- Samaritan's Purse - (a clean water project in Kenya currently being supervised and implemented by Thorp's cousin) https://www.samaritanspurse.org
- World Wildlife Fund - http://worldwildlife.org
- Human Rights Campaign, Lambda Legal, NO H8 Campaign - Organizations that advance equality for all people, regardless of gender or sexual identity
She also designated a fund for "Random Acts of Kindness", used to do kind things for others, like buying a meal for someone who is homeless.
Thorp decided to use GoFundMe.com, a crowd-sourcing website, to help her track donations, and held a birthday party fundraiser in July. She's more than half-way to her goal, and said the whole experience has been "very positive". Her efforts have inspired others to raise funds for other organizations they support, and her husband proudly told a teller at their bank about his wife's project.
Thorp has learned something about herself as well.
"I learned that I am a little better at fundraising than I thought I was," she said. "In school, I was mortified to ask people to help ... but when I found something I was really passionate about, it was more about the inspiration to give and to look at your own role, how do I fit into the larger community."
"Maybe you don't have the money, maybe you don't have the issue, but you can help get money to the issue," Thorp said.
Learn more about Thorp's GoFundMe.com campaign.
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