Easter "Egging" Fundraiser/Outreach

 

During the Pandemic, there was a non-profit in our town that decided to offer something called “You’ve been egged” to the community.  I loved the idea and made a note to do it the next year.  So, for 2021, our church turned it into an outreach/fundraiser…and it was a huge success!  Yes, we made around $500 with hardly any advertising, but that’s not why I loved it.  Any activity that we’re able to plan that brings the members of the church closer together, that brings the community together, and that brings the community to the church, is a HUGE success in my eyes.  So what exactly is “You’ve been egged”?

How is it run?

I’m not sure how other churches or organizations ran their program, but I created a signup where you could purchase 1-3 dozen eggs ($10, $20, and $30 respectively) and have them delivered to anyone in the city (within 15-20 minutes of the church).   The “buyer” could choose from a variety of options: how many eggs, if they wanted candy/prizes or both, and if they wanted them hidden or left in a basket at the door.  Unlike the other organization, we offered our “egging” sometime during the week before Easter.  We did not want to get bogged down the night before Easter – especially if the weather was bad.  We did have a few slots available for “Easter Eve” for an extra $5.  A couple of families took us up on that offer, but not many.  We hid the eggs during the day so as not to scare anyone as we were “lurking” around.  We wore bunny ears as well so they knew what we were up to (if the bag of eggs wasn’t enough).  If the recipient was a child, we “egged” the house during the day while they were at school.

Why did I end up loving this outreach so much?  

Because of the beautiful response I got.  I had a young family buy an egging for everyone on their block.  I had a senior buy baskets of eggs for everyone in their cul-de-sac in their retirement neighborhood.  I had grandparents buying for grandkids, grandkids buying for grandparents, and neighbors buying for neighbors.  It was incredible!  I got to deliver two special baskets of eggs (special candy was requested because of health issues) to a nursing facility.  So many people were blessed through this – and the church was able to raise money for our children’s mission trip! 

A few details I learned along the way in case you’re interested in doing this. 

-          Buy or print out a map of your city.  As orders come in, mark them on the map.  I made up a code so I’d know how many, if they needed to be hidden, and if it was for Easter Eve.

-          Ask for some volunteers to help you deliver – I had older youth volunteer, seniors, and in between.  They loved being able to be the Easter bunny and bless someone!  Also ask for candy and prize donations to cut back on cost, and get volunteers to help you stuff the eggs.  Make sure and honor the orders from your peeps – some people had special diets and just got prizes, some only got candy, and some got both.  If there were allergies, that was also noted.

-          Once your orders are in and you’ve marked them on your map, divide up the neighborhoods and divvy them out to your volunteers.  If the eggs are to be hidden, they go in a bag…if they are to be left at the door, they’re in a basket!  Make it easy for them!

Lastly, and most importantly, leave this beautiful note that the Happy Home Fairy has for free on her website.  We personalized it with our church name at the bottom and changed the number of eggs at the top depending on how many they bought.  We also gave the option to the “buyers” if they’d like to be anonymous or leave their name.  We left the note on their door and rang the bell.  As the note says, we also hid one extra egg that was EMPTY.  Why?  To represent the empty tomb and resurrection.  You could actually leave a little note in that egg inviting them to church on Easter Sunday!