Card Project
Australian Greeting Card Program
A few years ago, some young people in a youth group came up with the idea of producing greeting cards they could sell at their annual church festival to raise funds for humanitarian projects. They knew the secretary of LifeNets Australia and asked if he could tell them of projects they could support.
The program was initiated by, and has been run for the last several years by church teenagers and young adults. It works this way – children and adults throughout the country send in photographs and art work. The most suitable are printed in quantity on greeting cards for sale, with envelopes, at multiple festival sites.
The program generates wide interest and contributions throughout the church community. It has been very successful and for the many people who send greeting cards during the festival it is more economical than using commercially available cards.
One of the program coordinators, Alex Love, describes the Youth Card Project:
“The Card Project has been a huge success. Samantha Thomson (21 years at the time) from Melbourne conceived and managed the project with the assistance of a small group of friends. The following year I took over and organised it, and it has since passed on each year to different coordinators.
“Right from the start, we said that as well as raising funds, an important part of the project was providing a way for young people to be involved in good works, and creating more connections among them. This is why we have had a different person ‘in charge’ each year, and why we seek out youth and young adults to contribute to the project.
“We have had specific projects where the funds we have raised have been directed. In 2011, four young adults, including Samantha and myself, went to a youth camp in Kenya and visited many areas of the country. Since then the funds have been directed at projects that we have been informed about or that we also know of from our trip (such as the LifeNets academy in Migori and re-roofing a community building in Western Kenya). This may change though as the scope/scale of the project changes.”
The program has been taken up by some young people in North America and they were recently able to financially support projects in Brazil and Guatemala.
Note: This program has now been running for 10 years and has consistently met its objectives.
Australian Card Project Raises $1106 for Projects in Brazil and Guatemala
The following article was originally posted on LifeNets.org on November 1, 2014.
Alexander Love from Australia has been studying here and arranged for the fund raiser in Bend from October 9-17, 2014. He writes: “We hope to extend this to more US sites for 2015. Elder Bill Eddington wrote to us earlier in July with the following —
“A couple of years ago I had an email conversation with Vic about a LifeNets greeting card program introduced in Australia. I sent him some sample cards.
“It works this way – children and adults throughout the country send in designs and the most suitable are printed in quantity on greeting cards for sale, with envelopes, at our Feast sites. The program was initiated by, and has been run for the last four years by church teenagers and young adults. The program generates wide interest and contributions throughout the UCG community. It has been very successful and, for the many people who send greeting cards during the Feast, very economical.
“One of the program coordinators, Alex Love, is in the USA at present and will be at Summer Camps in California, Oregon and in Wyoming. After the camps, Alex will be studying in Vancouver for the remainder of the year. He has suggested that if there is interest, he could work with someone in the USA to conduct a pilot program at one of the UCG festival sites. He already has contacts with people who could run the pilot. Because of time constraints, the card designs this year would have to come from Australia but be printed in the US.
Alexander Love describes the Youth Card Project:
“The Card Project has been a huge success back home in Australia, as I’m sure you realise. It has happened at three consecutive Feasts now. In 2011 Samantha Thomson (21 years at the time) from Melbourne conceived and managed the project with the assistance of a small group of friends. The following year I took over and organised it, and after that we passed it on to Shannon Clark (18 years) and now Rohan John (17 years). Since my year managing the project I have kind of ‘overseen’ the project by providing the resources and assistance that Shannon and Rohan have needed.
“Right from the start, we said that as well as raising funds, an important part of the project is providing a way for young people in the church to be involved in good works, and creating more connections among brethren, especially young people. This is why we have had a different person ‘in charge’ each year, why we tend to seek youth and young adults to manage the project and assist at the various FoT sites, why we have had specific projects where the funds we have raised have been directed, and why we source designs for the cards from all church members. In 2011 a four young adults, including Samantha and myself, went to the UYC camp in Kenya and visited many church areas, and since then the finds have been directed at projects that we have been informed of, but that we also know of from our trip (such as the LifeNets academy in Migori and roof of a church building in Western Kenya). This may change though as the scope/scale of the project changes.”
