Another thing to think about is gathering funds in small increments.  Don’t think about the big number or let it hinder you.  Asking 5 co-workers for their coffee money for the week , $10-$15-$20 each could equal up to $100.  I mean, you buy cookie dough and wrapping paper from their kids, right.

Don’t be afraid to ask.  That is part of the challenge of the experience. And when you come to the event to practice, you’ll know you raised like $200, and all of the people around you raised a lot of money, too, and what y’all are doing together is creating a world of good…and that is going to feel amazing!!

To help get you over your first hurdle, here is a sample letter that you can use and customize for yourself and email it out to your co-workers, friends, and family:

Dear Friends and Family,

As you know, I have been practicing yoga for some time, and I have decided to practice some karma yoga and step onto my mat to reach out of my community.  I am participating in an event called One Love, which is a charity fundraiser for Off the Mat, Into the World’s Global Seva Challenge.

Off the Mat, Into the World’s mission is to use the power of yoga to inspire conscious, sustainable activism and ignite grassroots social change.  The Global Seva Challenge (Seva- selfless service) is a yearly project that provokes critical thinking about global issues and raises significant funds to support communities in crisis.  This year the Global Seva Challenge will be focused on meeting critical needs and creating long term, sustainable solutions in rural Haiti. The focus of the mission is not just relief efforts from the devastating earthquake, but creating clean water sources and sustainable income (jobs!).

The One Love event on June 11 is like a yoga-thon, and I am going to do 108 sun-salutations that morning, and I need sponsors to raise a minimum of $108.  So my question to you today is: would you take me out for a cup of coffee?  Would you buy us both a cup of coffee? Would you instead give me that $10.80 so that we can both buy a water-filtration system to support a whole community in clean water?

Donating online is easy.  Here is the link to donate, and it shows you the three easy steps. http://onelovedallas.org/donate When you click to donate by credit card, it will take you to Off the Mat’s secure site. You should be able to have both pages open at the same time, so that you can look at the “three easy steps” and apply them along with your donation amount and cc information.

Thank you so much for your willingness to support me in any way you can. We are making a difference, and also remember that the energy of abundance is reciprocal!

Many thanks,

Amazing yoga student

Haiti is only an hour and a half plane ride from Ft Lauderdale, yet 80% of the population lives in poverty, 54% in abject poverty! The population is quite young with the median age in Haiti being just 21 years old . (which is just ripe for possibilities!) Unfortunately, less than 3.9% of the population live beyond the age of 65.

A massive 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti in January 2010 near the capital, Port-au-Prince. An estimated 2 million people lived within the zone of heavy damage, and more than 220,000 were killed. The devastation and aftermath has left nearly 1 million people displaced and living in tent cities and squalid conditions. On top of the fact that just over 50% of the population is literate, and with there being an unemployment rate of 40.6% the funds, supplies and infrastructure are just not available.

Not long after the quake, Haiti suffered a cholera outbreak, in October 2010, that to date has killed over 4,000 people and hospitalized over 200,000. Cholera is a very treatable disease, but the spread and severity of this outbreak in Haiti can be attributed in part to squalid living conditions in camps of people displaced by the earthquake, and inadequate supplies of clean drinking water throughout the country. The cholera death toll was intensified further by the widespread flooding of  Hurricane Tomas, which struck western Haiti in November 2010.

Rubble removal Projects in Port-au-Prince will be addressed, and children’s homes in Jacmel will be supported. However, the focus of the Global Seva Challenge will be in the rural region of Fondwa, approximately two hours south of the capital, Port-au-Prince, and only 8.6 miles from the epicenter of the massive earthquake. We will support the grassroots efforts to put in water filtration systems and long-term, sustainable projects creating the two things that Haitians seem to need most right now: clean water and sustainable income (jobs!).

As people whose basic needs are met, it’s our opportunity and a responsibility to help those who are in dire straights. So it is imperative at this time to reach out to our neighbors in Haiti.

Haitian quote via Libby Goff

“Kote ki gen SOUF la gen nan LAVI.  Kote ki gen nan LAVI a gen ESPWA.”

Where there is BREATH there is LIFE.  Where there is LIFE there is HOPE.