Rebekah's fundraising story: Raising funds whilst helping people to stay safe

One of our UK volunteers, Rebekah, has always wanted to volunteer abroad, so when Camps International came to her school and offered her the trip of a lifetime, she knew she had to get on board!

When Covid-19 hit, some of her original fundraising plans were cancelled, but she quickly found ways to turn the situation into a fundraising opportunity. Read on to find out how she did it…

Why I signed up…

I have always wanted to go out and volunteer in less developed countries and I have been begging my parents to let me travel to do this, but my parents weren’t so confident with me going out alone at 16. When I found out about Camps International, I knew that this was a great way to go out and help other people whilst being safe. My parents were a lot happier for me to do this, so I persuaded my best friend to sign up and we’re so excited to go out to Cambodia in 2021.

I knew it would be a challenge but I managed to turn obstacles into opportunities

I have had some experience with fundraising for events in school, so I knew that raising this amount of money was going to be a big challenge, especially as I wanted to fundraise as close to the full amount as possible.

We had a lot of events planned over the summer and at school, but unfortunately COVID-19 meant that these had to be cancelled. Because of this, I was definitely a bit worried about raising the money. However, when it was made law to wear masks on public transport and in hospitals, I thought this could be a good way to earn some money. I looked into how to make them and made one for myself, then others started to ask for them, so we made more.

People heard about the masks just by word of mouth through family and friends but then my mum took them into work and because she’s a nurse, they wanted loads! We then advertised them on Facebook and Instagram and have sold them all over the UK. It has been a continuous stream of masks coming out of our house for the past two months now! We have made over £550 (approx. $550AUD) from these so far and we still have more orders coming in.

Baking has proved to be a steady earner

Early on in my fundraising, I realised that baking was going to be a good way for me to make money as I had been selling cakes previously. We put out a post on my social media with pictures of cakes I’d previously made along with prices. Lots of people started to order them for a variety of different events such as Mother’s Day, birthdays and photoshoots.

Once I had done a few deliveries, word got around and I soon had orders coming in most weeks. I’ve made around £300 (approx. $650AUD) from this and have got some repeat customers with smaller items such as cupcakes.

Into the future…

My most successful fundraiser so far has definitely been making the masks, however I know that eventually there will no longer be a need for them so making cakes is a solid way of making money and keeping me on target for my fundraising goals.

I can’t wait for the expedition and I’m most excited about meeting new people and learning about anotherculture. I want to help build and make a lasting impact in people’s lives. I also can’t wait to get stuck into the scuba diving as me and my friend love the water and kayak quite a lot together.

My advice to fellow fundraisers

Some advice for other people that are fundraising would be to utilize the situation that you are in and not let it stop you from raising money. Find out what is in high demand and get creative. For me, it was making and selling masks.  There are always ways to make money, you just have to look for them and get stuck into the marketing. 

Here at Camps, we love hearing all of your fundraising stories! If you’d like to share yours, drop us an email at submissions@campsinternational.com and you could be in with the chance to feature on our next fundraising blog.