Just over 4 months ago we kicked off our 5th Annual CT HCPP, and I’m back with a final recap!
I handed out the remaining bags we had on New Year’s Eve to some warming centers that were open thanks to our cold winter here in Connecticut. When I initially started this project, I found it difficult to find the information for such resources, but with some more experience under my belt it was easy this time around! This allowed me to ensure that our backpacks were going to our ideal demographic since only those who have nowhere else to go will check into a warming center overnight.
We gave all but 2 bags to 3 different warming centers – one in East Hartford and two in Hartford. The other two bags were handed to individuals I saw while out running errands.
One of the warming centers I brought bags to, Center Church Soup Kitchen, happened to have the director, Carrie, there whom I was able to speak with for a bit. I truly believe she was the exact person I was looking for!
As luck would have it, Carrie actually founded Night Angels, which is essentially her version of the HCPP but on a much larger, year round scale. Doing this type of work is her entire life, and her passion showed during our conversation. Not only has she been doing this type of work for over a decade, she is also very involved directly in the community. She will lead a group into the streets to pay people visits, ensure they’re doing okay, and get them items that they need. AKA the exact thing I’ve been looking for. I’m very excited to see where this new connection leads.
Now let’s get back to project business 🙂
I started a month earlier this year, on September 1st, so I’d have a better chance of being able to pack and hand out all bags before the end of the year – which I did!
My goal for this year was to raise $2000, simply because we didn’t meet it last year. Ultimately though, my only goal is raising enough funds to cover the necessities we put in the bags. Anything beyond that allows us to add in more food items.
While we didn’t reach $2000, we did raise enough to complete our bags! We collected donations for 2 months – from September 1st to October 31st (although technically November 3rd since I extended it a few days to try and get some last minute donations, more on that later).
In that time we raised…
$1426.01!! It will never cease to amaze me the support that people give towards this project. It’s even more appreciated since half of our donors are repeats!
53% of our donors this year have donated to previous years’ projects as well. It’s always quality over quantity, and the donors of the CTHCPP are prime examples of that. It also warms my heart that we had so many new donors this time around!
Overall our cost for this year’s project came to $1455.87, so we were a little over our donation amount this year. Nonetheless, we take a win where there’s a win cause this was still a success!
If you’re a data person like me, you may be interested in the “statistics” of the donations:
- Venmo kept their #1 spot for the third year in a row as the top platform we received donations on, accounting for 82% of donations!
- Our average contribution per person was $89.30 which is a decrease from last year, but we had more donors this time around!
- Our average cost per bag was $29.70, not far off from the $30 I estimate!
Each year I try to brainstorm some fun, different ways we can raise money. This year that came with the idea of an extension of our donation deadline. Someone commented to me that they wished they could give more since their donation was “only $18”. This made me realize the average person may not know how far their donation actually goes.
With this, I posted a video on November 1st, the day after our deadline, announcing I’d continue accepting donations through the weekend. I rattled off some donation amounts we had received and what they went towards as well as some final items I wanted to purchase and what you could donate so we could get them.
I call this a success because that 3 day extension resulted in an additional $80!!
If you follow this project online, you know I post video updates to our Facebook Page and my socials. This year I posted a total of 24 videos! There’s a pretty clear correlation between videos posted and donations received, so I always try to post every few days when fundraising. My goal is every 3 days while fundraising and then I’ll slow down after that as I work on packing the bags and welcoming in the holidays.
Each year someone always comments about wanting to do something like this in their community or asking where we get our items. As always, I made sure to create a clickable item list!
The list also breaks everything down into categories:
- Clothing
- Food Bags
- Feminine Bags
- First Aid Bags
- Hygeiene
- Other
If you’ve continued reading this long, THANK YOU! ❤
I would never be able to do this project to this extent without your support. Whether you donated, watched the updates, liked, commented, or shared it with a friend, every little bit counts and does not go unnoticed. Seeing notifications come through on my updates warms my heart and truly keeps me motivated to continue.
Make sure to also join the HCPP email list so you know exactly when we’re kicking off later this year! Don’t worry about me spamming your inbox, I send maybe 5 emails a year.
If you ever have any questions, comments, feedback, ideas, or anything you’d like to share, I would LOVE to hear it! Please feel free to leave a comment below on this post, DM me on our FB page, my Instagram, my Tiktok, or email me at brittney@traudtstwocents.com. I am always open to suggestions and thoughts on how we could make this project even better!
As always, thank you SO much for reading! See below for our donor shoutout and be sure to subscribe so you never miss a post!
This Year’s Project Would Not Be Possible Without The Following People:
- Jennifer
- Dottie
- Barbara
- Amber
- Wendy
- Isabella
- Brizada
- Michelle
- Helene
- Ginnie
- Courtney
- Ashley
- Lily
- Elissa
- Shirley
TRAUDTSTWOCENTS 