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Fundraising around the
World
Where There’s a Will, There’s a Way
Mary Hurt
LLLI PR Associate
From: LEAVEN, Vol. 40 No. 5, October-November 2004, p. 105.
"I love reading NEW
BEGINNINGS and LEAVEN and when an invitation to the LLLI Conference
appeared in these magazines I was very enthusiastic," states Karmen
Mlinar, Leader from Slovenia, a country of two million inhabitants that
recently became one of the European Union countries.
Karmen lived by the slogan,
"Where there’s a will, there’s a way" when she solicited
funds to attend the 2003 LLLI Conference in San Francisco, California
USA. In addition to registration, hotel, food, and transportation, she
budgeted $500 (US) for buying books for all LLL Slovenia Groups. A total
budget of $2,500 (US) did not stop Karmen.
The $2,500 (US) was more
than five months of her salary as a part-time computer system engineer.
In Slovenia, there is one year of maternity leave, but after that most
mothers go back to full-time work. Karmen has chosen part-time work
because of her children: Luka (8), Naya (5), and Jaka (3).
Karmen’s dream to attend
the Conference came closer when she was notified that she had won a
Leader Scholarship to the 2003 Conference and a donation from the Matthieu
Chazelle fund. Receiving these funds gave Karmen the encouragement to
fundraise to attend the Conference. Karmen wrote more than 60 letters
to European companies. Two of them gave her some money. The mayoress
of Ljubljana City, who is very supportive of LLL Slovenia, also contributed
significantly to Karmen’s scholarship fund. Future Areas in Europe
also helped with the costs.
To cover living expenses
during the Conference, Karmen reported and wrote articles for Slovenian
parents’ magazines and wrote a report for the Slovenian Health
Institute about breastfeeding news.
During the Conference, Karmen
attended many sessions and met mothers and Leaders from around the world.
She also increased her knowledge about colic, communication, education,
publications, and the Internet and purchased so many books that she
had to buy a new suitcase just to bring them home. She felt that she
"robbed" the bookstore since, for about $600 (US), she purchased
almost all the books in the English language for her LLL Group Library.
For the mothers who don’t speak English, Karmen works hard to translate
the information for them.
When Karmen arrived at home
from the Conference, she sent pictures and thank-you notes to all of
her sponsors so she could share her experience and the enthusiasm of
an LLLI Conference.
Since attending the Conference,
Karmen has shared her knowledge with co-Leaders and Leader Applicants
in Slovenia by organizing workshops, moderating an Internet forum, and
writing reports from all Conference sessions she attended. One report
that she wrote was for the Slovenian Health Institute, who was especially
interested in learning more about breastfeeding and HIV. Karmen also
remains in constant communication with health personnel in a local maternity
hospital. They, too, were very interested in information from the Conference.
Already looking ahead, Karmen
has started planning and fundraising so she can attend the 2005 Conference.
Start exploring ways to fundraise so you can attend the LLLI Conference
to experience Breastfeeding: Ancient Art-Modern Miracle, at the Hilton
Washington, Washington DC, USA, July 2-5, 2005.
Page last edited Sun Oct 14 09:31:34 UTC 2007.
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