What does your organization make on the fundraisers?

Nothing. Once we have paid for the cost of the event the remainder goes to the charity we host the event for. We have had so much trouble getting help and response from the people of Fort Smith that at the present any kind of percentages are out.

How do you manage to begin an event?

We try to get sponsors to help us by putting their company name on posters, flyers or other things we do to give them some advertising for their businesses. Generally we do have a few who will help us, but this year it has been really tough with the economy and we have had to take a few other measures to cover costs, but we're still hanging in there! Next year we will start seeking sponsorships from out of town to continue helping others in 2010. We are happy to say we have had more interests from advertisers out of the Fort Smith area than Fort Smith itself.

Do any of you get paid?

No, everyone is a volunteer and non-paid.

Do you ever have to pay for help?

I have had to pay out quite a bit to get people to help, even my own volunteers. However, it had to stop which shortened my volunteers somewhat. People donate money to the cause, not for our pockets. If I refuse to take pay, I expect my volunteers to do the same.  It makes it where we can give more to our charities than most. We also monitor and sometimes even choose where we want the money used. This way we know it's not being used for a lot of study, research, paychecks, or the killing of animals and so on. This is part of the reason we help who we do. The charities we worked with last year and will be helping in 2010 will honestly put the money where we want it to be used and this makes me feel so much better and work even harder to accomplish a fundraising project.

Can you take credit and debit cards?

Yes! We can take credit and debit cards on our website, at the home office and by phone. We will now be able to accept credit and debit cards at any and all of our upcoming events in the future.