Fundraising

Free money from Bank of America  - sounds like a good idea to me. If we deposit at least $750 each month for 3 consecutive months the give you $150. Well we are 1/3 of the way there!!! October's deposits exceeded that and the month isn't over yet. Anyone out there planning to buy a T-shirt for a Christmas present or hoof shears or....??? There should be more items up on the Come to the Farm Auction soon so check it out. I plan to hold of making the next deposit till after Nov 1st and then so we can try to qualify for this free money. After that we'll still need a total of at least $750 to deposit for Dec. but lets focus on 1 month at a time.

If you are into the cleaning mode and have something to donate you can contact me or Ellen if you need help listing it. You can list things yourself but that is up to you.

Floor plan for 2011 Show

Been working most of the afternoon on different floor plans for the 2011 ADGA National Show. Think I might finally have a couple of workable arrangements for the pens. When Greg was out for his site visit in Sept we had determined where and how to have the 2 show rings side by side. With that figured out all I needed to do was figure out how we can still fit in about 1000 pens and still have room for vendors. Its a good think I really like puzzles because this was a real challenge. Think I actually have a workable plan at this point. Need to confirm a couple of measurements and get a couple of details ironed out. The fact that some of our pens are 6 x 6 and others are 9 x 9 does an extra element to the challenge. Hopefully everyone will be happy with the final arrangement.

2011 National Show Planning Update

Earlier this month Greg Morris came out for his sight visit and we had a chance to walk around the Mallory Complex at the Eastern States Exposition Center. After much brainstorming we have come up with a workable layout that will allow us to have 2 show rings. Over the next couple of weeks I will be mapping out just how many pens we can really squeeze in that building and still allow us to be comfortable with the space around us. Its hard to say just how many animals we will have , but I suspect that we will be pleasantly surprised and have a good turn out for the 2011 show.

T -Shirts

This is our fund-raising T-Shirt which I have been carrying around to any and all the shows I have made it to this year. Overall people have been very excited about the opportunity to help in any way possible towards bringing the 2011 ADGA National Show here to New England. I have sold a lot of shirts but we still have lots more to sell and of course we can always get more. Actually just found a new company to print them for us and I'm very excited by this because we know only need to order 6 at time so we will be better able to have the sizes and colors we need.

The shirt is available in 3 different colors: beige, gray and white. We have them available in the following sizes for $15 each: Small, Medium, Large, X-Large, and a Youth Large. We also have them in a XX-Large for $17.00.  I took an envelope with one shirt to the post office and have determined that I can ship one just about any where for $2.75. 

I'll be at the Blandford Fair over Labor Day weekend and will have them with me or of I'll be glad to send them out to any who are interested and want to pay the shipping.

Fundraising

We have a long way to go to be able to do the various different things we have talked about doing as a host group. Seems no one gets very excited about being involved in fundrasing although lots of people want to help.

 Hopefully some of the larger donations we have solicited will come thru and we will be able to see some serious progress in our efforts. I have added the thermometer today and a button for donations so hopefully some will opt to donate. I know I have had a few people ask if they can make a donation with PayPal so now I have set it up to be easy.

The "Come to the Farm Auction" has a couple of items ending soon so that should help to boost things.This is the last day on the buck kid from Old Mountain Farm which is still going for less then 1/2 of what it is worth.

http://www.cometothefarm.com/cgi-bin/auction.cgi?category=catq_subqb&item=1282245613

Hopefully there will be some last minute action to boost the price up but then again isn't shopping the auctions for a bargain part of why we do it!!

I will not be showing my goats this year at the Big E, but  I will be there with our fundraising T-Shirt for sale so hopefully we can sell a lot of them at that time. Also will have them available at the Blandford fair.

I will see if I can add buttons to this blog to sell the shirts, hoof shears and Fight Bac plus anything else we can get in quantities at a good price. If somebody has any suggestions of other items we might be able to sell let me know. I'm all for finding items we all need and offering them at a price at or below retail with the profit going toward the host group.

Northeast Dairy Goat National Show Association (NEDGNSA)

Well we are hard at it in getting ready to host the 2011 ADGA National show here in New England. Our fund raising efforts are underway and our bank account is growing all be it slowly. Its amazing just how much money the host group needs to come up with to be able to extend a warm welcome to our fellow goat breeders across the country. ADGA of course picks up the tab for the show itself and the facilities. Will look forward to sharing more of what we are doing as time progresses.

We have submitted out suggestion to ADGA for a logo and are waiting their approval. As soon as we get the green light on this we will start using it to promote the show. Have some fun ideas around that but you'll just have to wait and see.

Back on the fund raising subject - have you checked out the Come to the Farm Auction. There are a couple of items up there now including all the misc fund raising things we have for sale - hoof shears, Fight Bac, and of course our T-Shirt's
http://www.cometothefarm.com/cgi-bin/auction.cgi?action=subcat&category=catq_main
Did you know you can donate items to sell right at the auction site?? Need help - just ask.
Be sure to pass this info on to all who might be interested and check it out often as new items are being added constantly.