FOUR MONTH FAMINE PLANNING GUIDE

FOUR MONTH FAMINE PLANNING GUIDE

Four months from your Famine event:

• You should have schedule your Famine event on your group’s calendar

• At this point you should have ordered your Famine materials. Your materials are typically shipped between 3-4 months before your schedule Famine event.

• If you have NOT yet ordered Famine materials, please call 1-800-7FAMINE (1-800-732-6463) to get your FREE Famine kit sent to you.

Three months before you Famine

• If you’re going to do the Famine as a lock-in at your church (or other venue), it’s not too early to make those arrangements now with the proper people.

• Take a few minutes to review the Famine Leaders Guide. Familiarize yourself with the layout so as your planning progresses, you’ll be able to quickly find what you need.

• Do the same with the 30 Hour Famine web site, www.30hourfamine.org.

Two months before your Famine (items from here on out are listed in the 2008 Famine Leaders Guide on pages 12-13).

• Hold a kickoff meeting with your group. This is a great time to show the Famine Preview video (part of your Program DVD that came with the Famine materials). Hand out the famine Guides, and with your group, set a fundraising goal. Ideally, each person will commit to finding 12 people who will pledge $1 for each hour they go without eating. This will equal 12 sponsors at $30, or $360. That is enough to help provide basic food and care to a child for a year.

• Appoint some Famine coordinators. This will help lighten your load. Some areas they can help manage:

  • Planning activities and group fundraisers (if you choose to do any),

  • Promoting you Famine event within your church or wider community

  • Planning Famine Sunday

  • Arranging for group’s ‘Break the fast’ meal at the end of your Famine.

• Meet regularly with you coordinators.

• Now is the time to order Famine gear from the official provider of the 30 Hour Famine, Uth Stuph Clothing. They can be reached at 1-800-242-9166 or at www.uthstuph.com.

• Start planning your Famine weekend, using the ideas listed in your Leaders Guide and in the Leaders area of the Famine web site.

• If you’d like, coordinate with other churches or groups in your area. You can find them through the Famine Directory in the Leaders area of 30hourfamine.org (you must be a registered user to access the Directory). IMPORTANT NOTE: If you do gather with other churches for the Famine, it is VERY important that each church still sign up on their own, and that each church sends in their own funds. This is necessary for us to be better stewards of the resources we have.

One month before the Famine

• Download the entire Fuller Seminary 30 Hour Famine curriculum from the Famine web site.

• Begin the 30-day countdown to your Famine event. Have Participants start reporting on their fundraising efforts – you could even give prizes to the top fundraisers so far.

• Show the Famine video to your congregation to get them excited (and to help support your participants’ fundraising efforts). This is found on the Famine Program DVD.

• Start planning for Famine Sunday. Ask your pastor to designate a time during the service on Famine weekend so your group can share their Famine experiences (see pages 28-29 of the Leaders Guide).

• Continue to meet with your coordinators.

• Start asking parents or other members of the congregation to help with your event. While you’re at it, remind them to ask their employers about matching their Famine donations. Someone in your congregation might even offer to match what your participants raise.

• If needed, start downloading parental consent forms from the Famine web site, and have your participants get them completed.

• Share the Famine with others. Use the three Sundays before your Famine weekend to tell your church what your participants are about to do. Download bulletin inserts and other promotional materials from your enhanced Famine Program DVD, or from the web site.

Famine Weekend

• Collect the funds your participants have raised so far. You’ll use the large USPS envelope to send these in right away. Don’t worry, your kit includes another smaller envelope for sending in late collections from your group members. NOTE: checks get ‘stale’ after just a few months, and cannot be cashed by the bank. In order to keep your sponsors from getting upset with long outstanding checks and to make sure all the hard-earned funds make it to the children they’re supposed to help, please send all collected funds in to World Vision in a timely manner.

• BE HUNGRY! And have fun – you’ve planned a terrific event. Enjoy it.

• Share your experience with the whole congregation on Famine Sunday. And be sure to invite them to help change a life through child sponsorship (see pages 28-29 in the Leaders Guide).

After the Famine

• Finish collecting the funds your group has raised.

• Send your group’s funds in to World Vision. Don’t forget to include a copy of your Control Sheet (and keep a copy for yourself) with your group’s rewards order (see your donation toolkit and pages 30-31 of the Leaders Guide for more details).

• Thank everyone for participating. Be sure to do something special for your coordinators.

• Encourage your group to learn from this experience and to find ways to continue helping people in need.

• Continue to pray as a group for the children you’ve helped.

• Mark your calendar for the 2009 Famine on February 27-28, 2009, and April 24-25, 2009!