Right it's official. I'M GOING TO CLIMB MOUNT KILIMANJARO. In October for charity and to raise awareness for Adults with disabilities in South Africa.
My (step) daughter is in residential care in the UK, the money she receives for her care every year equates to the same amoun of government assistance available for the 140 residents at Kungwini Welfare Organisation in Pretoria.
I've been volunteering with them since July 2011 helping out in the workshop, making 2km of bunting to decorate their Christmas Market, their biggest fundraiser of the year, making bags (I'd never used a sewing machine before) and selling them to family and friends in the UK and using the funds to buy essential items such as toiletries and equipment for the workshop. Sometimes I jsut sit and chat with the residents, or turn up with a batch of cakes. But I want to to do more.
I've been suffering with Derpression as an expat, struggling to find my way. KWO has provided me with a place to go, a value and self worth to my life and i've met some amzing people and such a laugh with the staff. I want to do more. I'm currently fullfilling an order of bags for friends here in South Africa and trying my hand at making children's toys to sell on their behalf.
But before I sign up to the trip in October and pay the R20,000 (£1,500) I need to find out a little more about fundraising, training and sponsorship for equipment. I can't afford to pay the fee and purchase all my own gear. And I want to ensure that I can maximise the monies raised.
So many of you work with PR companies, review products on your blog and I never understand how you do this, do you contact them? if so how? or do they contact you?
I get around 250 hits on my blog a day via a handful of plugs on twitter. With my last post on Supporting Adults with disabilities in South Africa, receiving over 1000 hits.
So who can help me? Guide me in the right direction? Need to get this up and running ASAP so I can book the climb
Good for you!
ReplyDeleteI can't really advise on PR companies, etc, but someone on Britmums or Tots 100 will surely be able to. There are forums for that kind of thing.
Thank you have had a response from Tots100
DeleteThe best option is to think about what you could potentially offer brands in terms of exposure in exchange for them donating what you need for the trip. For example, you might blog a review, include images on your Instagram feed, or share on a Facebook page.
ReplyDeleteNext, you can put a request on Twitter using the hashtag #prrequest or #journorequest and the PRs will see it. You can also use media request sites such as Responsesource, Homes4Media, Food4Media and Gorkana to send out a message to hundreds of PRs simultaneously - these sites are free to register with and use, and providing you know what you want and what you can offer, should work well.
Hope that helps!
Thank you Sally, I shall get on to this later today
DeleteCongratulations on deciding to climb Kilimanjaro - it's quite the experience. As a former expat in South Africa I did the same thing. I also climbed for a charity that was important to me. In terms of gear, the only thing I bought was a pair of boots. I borrowed a lot of things from friends (even the essential zip off pants) - Sth Africans and expats - Sth Africa being a big outdoor and camping place in general I found lots of people had things to offer. I can't offer you advice on the other side of things but I am sure with the exposure your blog gets you will find someone who can help. South Africa is a hard place to live - I did it for three years, our second expat posting after Hong Kong - I thought you couldn't get too places further apart in terms of lifestyle and then we were moved to the American south! I miss Durban and 320 days of sunshine more than I ever imagined.
ReplyDelete