A day to give Thanks

Friday marked the Dinner Project's Thanksgiving dinner. We asked our friends and family to come and eat a traditional Thanksgiving meal with us and show their support for the work that we are doing by donating directly to the Dinner Project. A non-profit organization is, sadly, not a cheap thing to start or continue, and while we don't have salaries or rent to pay, there are a few costs that are necessary.

Friday's event brought in roughly $300 which will be applied directly towards our costs in filing the necessary paperwork to classify our organization as non-profit and gain tax exempt status. Over the course of the last few months we have raised around $4500 that has been distributed to various charities with the generous donations of all the friends and family that have attended our different events. With the donations raised on Friday, we can continue our momentum and make the coming events even more successful.

Thanks to everyone that attended on Friday. If you didn't attend, you missed out on a raffle for some of Jessica's handmade jewelry, as well as a smorgasbord of traditional Thanksgiving fare. We held discussion on the future plans of the Dinner Project and our next event will be in January to benefit the Ronald McDonald House Charity. We will be asking for in-kind donations, as well as monetary, so if you get something for Christmas you don't want, save it and donate it to charity.

An update on the Kiva Charity Donations

Here is a quick update on our first Dinner Project Charity. The micro-loans given through Kiva to help two woman start businesses have had some repayment.

The first loan of $150.00 has so far had a 21.15% repayment. The loan was given to Nive of Samoa. Nive is 61 and married with six children. She owns a business venture selling lava lavas (bottom-half wrap-around prints worn by both men and women).

The second loan of $50.00 has had a 23.10% repayment. This loan was given to a woman named Marcia from Ecuador. Marcia is 36 years old and she lives in Fortín de Guayaquil (a semi-urban area, with dirty paths, and deteriorating hills). She sells natural products like medicines for body pains and other kinds of symptoms. In order to build a better house, and provide better service to her customers, she wants to buy cement, stones, and sand with the loan.

Once these funds have been repaid, they can be loaned again and we can continue the cycle of giving. This is The Dinner Project in action.

Over $4,500 raised with just 4 events! - The Dinner Project's November Event

It's hard to believe that in just 4 events we've raised and distributed over $4,500 for some amazing causes. We've supported small business owners in Samoa and Ecuador with small micro loans. We hosted a BeadforLife party and sold handmade jewelry made by Ugandan women to help support them with education, job training, better schools and health services. We raised cash and paper goods for Jonathan's Place, a crisis shelter for children, and we had an amazing night of pink raising money to help support breast cancer research and awareness. 100% of our proceeds from each event were given directly to the charities. We have a full board of directors now with regular board meetings happening each month and a calendar planned through the end of 2011.

For our November event we are asking for your help to continue the momentum and help The Dinner Project with administrative costs. It costs money to run a non-profit organization, even one that has 100% volunteer labor and no office space or overhead. We are asking for donations to help defray the costs for things like party supplies, event space rental, printing costs and to apply for our 501(c)3 tax exempt status. Just filing the paperwork is $400.

We've had amazing response to the organization and the work we are doing. We are seeing new faces each month and many repeat guests who are quickly becoming Dinner Project regulars! People in other parts of the U.S. want to host dinner parties for us in their home towns. All this in just 6 short months.

Help us keep the momentum going by joining us November 12 for a Thanksgiving meal. Share a meal with us, share The Dinner Project with a friend by bringing someone along with you and share your abundant resources with people who need a little extra to make their lives better. I hope to see you all there - it's a great cause and it's happening right here in our community! How exciting to be a part of all this!

Dana Neal

www.dinnerproject.org