I am the secretary for the Guardians of the Children which is a non profit group of motorcycle riders (NOT a club full of the bad guys that most people think of when thinking about motorcycle riders) who care deeply about helping abused children.

Most commonly, we get a call from either CPS (Child Protective Services) or Crime Victims that there is a child who has been removed from their current living situation due to physical and/or emotional abuse. All of our current cases are of young, ages 6 month to 10 years, children who have been sexually abused, raped or severely beaten. The legal guardian(s) of the child often need to feel safe from the perpetrator who sometimes makes threatening calls, drive-bys etc. Also, when attending court the families of the perps will stand outside the Courthouse and make verbal threats and be verbally abusive to the "new" family. Funny how the perps families are always intimidated when they see motorcycle riders surrounding the "new families". We just show up and they pretty much just leave. They also know that we work with the local police department and that the police are a short phone call away.

Another important action that we take is to attend Court with the child/children. Under Texas law, an underage child who is testifying can not have family members present. Weird, I know, but it seems that the Court is afraid that the child may be intimidated by the family and not be completely honest. So, since the Guardians of the Children members have gotten to know the child and he/she trusts us, and since we are not kin to the child we CAN and DO attend court with the child. It means a lot for the little one to see friendly faces in the courtroom. With the permission of the Judge we often can bring the child into the empty courtroom the day or night before to familiarize them with where everyone will sit, etc.

We also provide toys at Christmas, school supplies, clothes etc. Also take them out for pizza, bowling, etc and have even babysat while the legal guardians (often times grandparents) can get some time away for an evening alone. The legal guardians know and trust us and know that the children will be safe.

Now, to my question to all of my wonderful quilters here - - does anyone have any ideas how we can a) raise money, b) find more ways to help the kids, c) know of any sites on the internet that help out non profit groups?

It came to mind to send out this appeal after reading a post about Angel Food Ministries. I'll just bet some of you know of other sources.

Thanks for reading my whole long story, but believe me this was only a brief description.

i belong to a quilt guild that makes quilt for CASA in our area and they Had an auction that we donated quilts for and they received other types of donations to auction they raised quite a bit of money.

Sounds like a wonderful group you have there. Those children need friends and advocates.
I'm not sure of the best ways to raise funds. You could try raffling quilts or something like that.

Thank you for all you do. The children really need you in their corner. I don't have any suggestions except to check your local newspapers to get ideas of what others are doing.

I don;t know of a way for you to raise money,just wanted to say Thank You. for what you do.

Kathome:

We also ride (well I just sit there and look pretty) and have participated in your standard dice /poker runs. These have always done well in our area for fund raising. Lately though, instead of just doing 50/50 raffles, some have had auctions before the prizes are handed out.

I really think that some biker themed "Bow Tuck" totes would create interest in bidding because the gals can always get the guys to buy something for them at a charity event.

We have a Goldwing and pull a trailer so we have tons of room to haul stuff. Some people just have their saddlebags so it needs to be something that will fit in there or make arrangements for shipping.

If you have people that are "ate up with" Harley items, you could get handerchiefs and use them as fabric in purses / totes / wall hangings / aprons / napkins/ placemats, etc. Just be careful of any possible infringements by using the material (don't think a charity auction is a problem though).

Good luck with fund raising and thank you for the work you and your friends do. It takes special people to provide special needs and it sounds like you are definately one of them.

I also want to say thank you for doing what you do for the children!

Thanks for your ideas and for your thanks too.

I've thought about making items to raffle/auction, but I am the only one in the group who quilts, crochets or does any "crafting". I also spend a good deal of time on the secretarial work for the group and work as well. I simply can't produce enough to auction off.

Guardians of the Children also support local charities and often they are the ones who reap the rewards of our efforts. This March we are having a bowling fund raiser and hope to make some money from that event.

Have you thought of legally becoming a "charity" or what is it that I'm trying to get to? I mean that you could ask for donations and become a group that would allow the donor to use that donation as a tax write off. Then possibly you could ask United Way for money for the kids.
We've a lot of clever people on this forum, everyone chime in with ideas!! Think up ideas and let's see if they'll fly.

Yes, we are a non-profit 501(c)(3). There are many, many 501s asking for money. So far no one has given anything. We have applied for a grant from a local organization and will find out sometime in March if it's approved. There is an enormous amount of paperwork that goes into "asking" and yes, we do that.