Happy Thanksgiving!

Here is a picture of me after I finished my last mile in the Kids' Soldier marathon!  I wore my got goat? t-shirt.  And I got a cool finisher's medal and a coin. It was fun.

I have some news about the fun run we were hoping to have.  Um, it looks like it isn't going to work out after all.  We can't find anybody to help us with it.  We need to find a sponsor if we want to do it on-post and that takes a long time.  My dad found out you have to have insurance for a run in the city.  So that's not happening... at least not this year.  Maybe next year?  We might need to start planning it now!

I am thankful for everybody that donated to the got goat project!  I hope you have a good Thanksgiving and remember all the things you are thankful for, because its not a good thing if you forget them.

It's easy to be greedy

Giving during the holiday season is just as important as during the rest of the year.  For me it's easy to get caught up with looking at toy catalogs and wanting a lot of things.  We've started eating soups this week to fund our Joy Jars.  It reminds me that even though I don't like some of the soups my mom makes, it's just a small thing I can do to help someone else.  It's also important to remember that their are people near you in America that need help as well.

One thing my family does is participate in our church's giving tree program..  We pick a family that our church is sponsoring, and buy them Christmas presents.  We usually try to find kids our own age so it's easy to pick stuff out for them.  Mom and dad want to be a blessing to the parents, so they usually pick out some stuff that would be helpful like winter jackets and other clothes on the list.  They leave the fun part to my brother and I, and we get to pick out the toys.  If your church doesn't have a giving tree there are several ministries you can contact and support.

Mom and dad are still trying to help me do a run to finish out the year, and dad had a crazy week at work so he didn't get far.  He is going to make some phone calls this week to help out.

where it all started...

Momma adds:
Wilson has reached his goal of $2000 but is still hoping to do a fun run of some sort.  We are in the preliminary stages of planning.  We know that we are NOT allowed to do the run on-post because of fundraising regulations.  We're currently looking into off-post locations.  If you have any ideas PLEASE let us know ASAP.  December is just around the corner and we want to help Wilson finish his goal well.

Also, he mentioned that we'll be turning in another t-shirt order in early December.  T-shirts are $15 with 60% of the purchase price going to World Vision.  Email us at gotgoat2011@gmail.com for more information or to place an order.  One friend ordered a bunch as Christmas gifts so I made an explanatory gift tag to go with them.

Finally, if you would like to order a World Vision gift catalog for your family just click here.  Maybe you can start your own family tradition like our Joy Jars... but watch out, your kiddos might dream a bit bigger than you do!  (Wilson already has something in mind for next year!)

awesomeness!

Wanna see a surprise?

Click HERE!

p.s. you might be wondering what happens if I go over my goal... the money will just keep going to World Vision so they can help people in need. Its only September!! God is good!

T-shift order and more

I just received a big order for t-shirts, and this means we'll be able to place an order on Monday.  If you've been thinking about buying a shirt and supporting my goal, then now is a great time to get in.  I am only a $123.62 away from reaching $2000.00.  Can you believe this?  It's only September 6th!  If you are in school, and have a "Got Goat" t-shirt, it's a great place to wear it and bring awareness to my cause.

I just wanted to remind you about why I am doing this. Farm Animals are a great way to help fight hunger. Here are a couple of good videos.

OOPS! I forgot to blog for two weeks!

Oops!  Its been harder to get back in the habit of blogging than I thought it would be.

I am getting closer to my goal.  My mom's friend is buying 14 t-shirts and giving them as Christmas presents....which Christmas is going to be in awhile...  Don't you think that's a great idea?  I was really surprised!!  Which you can say that again!!!  REALLY SURPRISED!

That's really all I can think of for today.  Yep.  I'll try to remember to blog next week.

wow, it's been a long time since I last blogged!

Since school started, my parents said I had to start blogging again on Sundays.  Let's see here, today, me and my Dad both wore "got goat" shirts to church.  I have the same teacher this school year, so she asked me how my goal was going.  I told her it was going well because its almost one thousand six hundred dollars; or you could say ALMOST sixteen hundred dollars!

Some people wanted to donate money for each book I read this summer.  And I read 41 books; not including the 8 that I read last week.  So I guess the total would be 49 books this summer!  I love reading!

Check back next week to see if I am staying on track with blogging!

Got Goat? at Peachtree Road Race

My dad and his friend/boss both ran at the Peachtree Road Race.  You can see they had a good cheering section!  My dad wore his "got Goat?" tech shirt in the race.  We wore our "got Goat?" shirts too.  You might wonder why they look so dirty in this picture with the dads after the race....

Does this help explain it a little?  We had a fun time at the park while we waited for my Dad.

It was pretty silly rolling down the hill and sliding down the hill.

We went to the pool the day before the race and had a good time there.

Nobody asked me about my t-shirt.  Wonder why? Don't know the answer.  But my great Grandma Rose has asked for more business cards because a lot of people are asking her about her t-shirt.

We are going to put another order in at the beginning of next week.  So far there are t-shirts in Georgia, Alabama (2 cities), Michigan (5 cities), Oklahoma (2 cities), North Dakota, and New York {on their way tomorrow!}.  Plus we have an order for North Carolina and Germany so far this time around!  I hope that more people will wonder about "got Goat?" and will ask.  I think together we can help a lot of people....maybe even a whole village!

Got Goat goes to Atlanta

Sunday I will be traveling to Atlanta, GA for the Peachtree Road Race.  My dad will be running it on Monday morning (along with 59,999 other people).  He has a start time of 9:05 am, the very last one.  It's going to be HOT, so he is going to be wearing a Tech version of my "Got Goat" T-shirts.  You can see Walker and me holding it.

My mom, Walker and me will be wearing our regular "Got Goat" t-shifts in support of Team Goat.  It's a great opportunity to bring awareness to my cause.  We are hoping dad can meet his goal of running it in around 50 minutes, but more importantly we want him to finish safely.

I have really wanted to do a fun run, but trying to set one up is a lot of work.  Living on a military installation there are a lot of hoops to jump through.  You can't just pick a park and get people to show up.  So I have come up with plan B.  Everyone involved with my "Got Goat" project can create their own local team.  You can pick any type of race (5k, 10k, 1/2 Marathon, Marathon), or just create a challenge.  Find a track, and get people to sponsor you for every lap you complete (You could do the same thing on a bike).  Will you help me bring awareness to this cause?

Mom says she'll post pictures from our trip after we get back.

P.S. 11Alive will be covering the race, so be sure to check it out Monday morning.

Exciting Day!

Today, I got to go see the "got Goat?" t-shirts get printed.  It was pretty cool.

Mr. Chris explained to me how the printing works.

I put some t-shirts on and pressed the start button.  I couldn't reach it, so he helped me up.

When I put the t-shirts on, I had to push them on very hard, and smooth 'em out.

This is a pink shirt with one color on it; it will get four colors altogether.

Of course, Walker wanted a chance to press the start button too.

Walker watched as the t-shirts came out of the oven.  They had to go in the oven so the ink could dry.

Momma adds:

Y'all it was such a treat for the boys to see how the machines worked and to watch the design go on all those t-shirts.  Chris described every detail of the process, and Wilson soaked it all up.  {He had seen screen-printing once on Dirty Jobs, and he commented to me that this was like that, but way better because it "was in person"!}

As we were getting ready to leave, I asked Chris if he wanted me to pay him then, since all 35 of these shirts were pre-orders and we have collected over half of the money for them already.  He said, "Nope, this first batch is on me, its my contribution."

And then Momma almost started crying in a print shop. 

 It was just such an unexpected surprise, since we knew we were getting a great price already and Chris hadn't charged us for the design.  Wow.

That means 100% of the purchase price of these first 35 shirts goes to World Vision!  So exciting!

I explained this to Wilson once we got in the car, and his eyes got so big as he did some math in his sweet little head.  I am beside myself with excitement to watch as the Lord continues to bless Wilson's efforts and surprise us with His goodness.

"As it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him."  1 Corinthians 2:9

Now if you haven't bought a t-shirt yet.  Let us know!  We'll be printing some again probably next month! And also, keep an eye on Wilson's World Vision fundraising page, we'll be making "t-shirt payment donations" in the next few days, so the total will start climbing!

in his words

Quite a few people have asked us various questions about Wilson's endeavor, so we decided to interview him with some of the questions that we've been asked...  Here are his answers...

a little bit surprising

My Aunt Lyla took this picture of the table they had set up at the garage sale this weekend.  My mom called my Great Grandma Rose today and Grandma said she is sending  $76 to add to the World Vision fundraising page.

My mom had me guess how much I thought they might have and I guessed $10.

I have a t-shirt design

My t-shirt printer developed this design for me and I like it a lot.  The following colors will be available White, Light Blue and Pink, and sizes of Youth S, M, L and Adult S, M, L, XL.  Each t-shirt will cost $15.00 + $2.00s&h (bulk mailing rates are available), and all the net profits will go to my Got Goat Project in support of World Vision.  My parents are donating their time and gas, so that all the money I raise can go directly World Vision.

Because of the way my parents handle money we'll be able to process orders in one of two ways:

1. Paypal 

2. Check or money order mailed to my mom or dad

If you're interested you can e-mail gotgoat2011@gmail.com about which method you would prefer to do, and I'll get back to you with the details on how to make it happen..  Also, right now we are taking pre-orders only, and once we reach the minimum order number the shirts will be printed and shipped out.

Now for the exciting part.  How would you like to earn a FREE "Got Goat" t-shirt?  That's right I said free!  I am issuing the 24 T-SHIRT CHALLENGE.  The first 3 people who can sell 24 pre-orders will receive their own t-shirt free of charge in the size and color of their choosing. To qualify for this you must collect all the money, and submit one order to me and one form of payment (one check, money order, or paypal payment).

VLOG 2

weekly update

I have a meeting with a owner of a printing company tomorrow to make t-shirts.  So maybe I will post again this week to let you know what we work out.

My great grandma and Aunt Lyla are having a garage sale.  They are going to put out one of my posters and see if anyone wants to make a donation. I am excited to see how they did on their garage sale.

Thanks for reading.  Have a good week.

Lemonade stand

Over the weekend, I had a lemonade stand at our garage sale to raise money for my project.  Not much people came around to our garage sale, but I raised $11 selling lemonade.

I sold some of my old toys and also put that towards the project.  I am very happy.  I raised $84.50 with the help of my parents from the garage sale.

{Hopefully my mom will remember to put the money on my fundraising page this week.  She's a forgetter.}

about those t-shirts...

Hey, its Mom here posting in Wil's absence.  (The kid has to go to school.)  Anyway, as you can see we have t-shirt's!  Barbie did an excellent job making them for the boys and they were so excited that they wanted to wear them to church (Good Friday) the day we got them!

Barbie warned me that there might be "issues."  She had been on a forum regarding the materials she used and there were mixed reviews.

Sadly, some of the letters on Walker's shirt were peeling off by the time we dropped him off to his class at church.  Thankfully, all of Wilson's letters survived.  I handwashed Wil's shirt, laid it flat to dry, and pressed the letters on again before he wore it to school.  Its holding up perfectly.

But, that's an awful lot of steps to care for a cotton t-shirt.  So after talking with Barbie again, we decided we'd look for a screen-printer here in town.  We'll be keeping the design very similar to what you see above.  I am hoping to locate a place this week.

All that to say - hopefully we'll have news on t-shirts soon.  Also, the word on the street is that the post-wide garage sale is this coming weekend!  We thought it was later in the month.  So this might be the kick-off of the lemonade sales!

Thanks for encouraging Wilson through this and for praying for him as he strives to reach this goal for God's glory.  The day he wore his t-shirt to school, he passed out business cards to a lot of his classmates!

week eight

Over Spring Break, two of my cousins came and brought money for my project.  While we were counting the money, my brother - Walker - thought they were sausages but they were really pennies wrapped up!  Thanks, Aunt Lyla!

I missed two weeks of my blogging because I had company and because I left to go to Myrtle Beach and went to North Carolina and didn't get back until Sunday.  So I ran out of time to do it.

I did get to deposit some money in that time though.  I added $182.15 to the fundraising page.  I am 25% there and I only need 75 more % to get there!  I trust in God to answer my prayers about people donating the money to help a family in a different country that are in need.  I am joyful to be doing this. 

T-shirt Update: The t-shirts are going to be light green, I think, with "Got Goat" on it.  And also how much money it will take and what the money is for "28 Farm Animals = $2000."  I will have a sample one soon.  We'll take orders then.

Week Five

I am saving some toys for a garage sale in May and I am going to donate the money I make towards my got goat project.  I was thinking maybe you decide a percentage to save to donate as well if you have a garage sale this summer.

I was unable to complete a design this weekend for the t-shirt, but I left the blanks with Ms. Barbie and she is going to finish it.

Would anyone be interested in reminder bands?  I was thinking of getting some of these.

Wilson

week number four of my adventure

I've decided to do vlog this week.  I hope you enjoy it.

Here is the first poster that I've designed.  You can down load a copy here, and print it on an 8.5x11 piece of paper to display at your work or school.

Week Three

Last week I said I'd talk about how much I've raised.  In just two weeks I've raised $285.09.

This is a picture of Walker and I putting change, from our goat goat jar, into the counting machine (it's a free service our bank offers instead of rolling all of it).

I wanted you all to know that I am joining the giving too.  Every month I get an $8.00 commission from Mom and Dad.  I give 10% to church, I save 10%, and whatever is left is mine to spend.  I've decided to donate $2.00 each month to my "got goat" project.

I'm starting work on my poster ideas today. My first batch of t-shirts should be done after I visit Ms. Barbie later this month.

blog button

"How the blazes do you add one of those?" - in an email from Jenn this week ;)

I am interrupting Wilson's regularly scheduled posting to tell you how to add his blog button to your blog, if you would like to.  Oh, and I only know how to do things on blogger, using a PC.

I am still surprised that I figured out how to make a blog button in the first place!   I sure love Google.

* Ok.  First step you have to be logged into your blog.

* Second step, from your dashboard, click on "design."  Your page elements template should be open.

* Click anywhere that you want to "add a gadget."  This will open a box with a variety of gadget options.

* Scroll down until you find "HTML/JavaScript"

* This will open ANOTHER window titled "Configure HTML/JavaScript."  There is a box for title... which can be whatever your heart desires "Wilson's Blog" works fine....

* Then in the next box is where you add the HTML for the button.  You copy this code from the sidebar... (working in multiple windows works best for this.)  Highlight and then copy all of the code from the white text box below Wilson's button on the sidebar.

* Then just "paste" it into the large box labeled "content" on the "Configure HTML/JavaScript" window.

* At this point you will think to yourself "No way is that going to work."  Click the orange "save" button and then view your blog to see if it worked!

{Email me if it didn't so I can figure out which critical step I left out.  Or google "how to add a blog button" to find someone that is better at writing these technical tutorials.}

Week two

I wanted to give you some ideas that make it easy to help save money to donate.  One thing we made is a jar to put loose change and dollars into. You can do this too. You can send money in too.
 

If you have a twitter or facebook account please share the link to my blog.  Also on my donation page is a like button for facebook.  If you have you're own blog, I have a button available that you can add to it.

This week I am going to make a poster to help with donations.  You can contact me if you want to put one up at your school, work, or church.

I've been asked some questions, so I will do my best to answer them.  

Question 1:  How long will you collect donations?

Answer:  My plan is to collect donation through the end of the year (31 Dec 2011).  I will continue to collect donation until the end of the year even if I hit my goal of $2000.

Question 2:  Can anyone comment on your blog?

Answer: Yes you can leave comments on my blog.  You do not need an account to leave one, but it wont show up right away because my editor (mom) has to approve them first.

Question 3:  Can you only donate online?

Answer: While this is the best way to do it, you can also send money in the mail.  I have gotten one donation in the mail already, and a lady at church today gave me some money for my goal.

Next week I will post how much I have raised so far.

Wilson

My First Post

Let's see here, I have been thinking about this for awhile now.  I have a blog because I am raising $2000.00 to buy 28 farm animals from World Vision for people in need in Africa. 

I will be raising this money with some help from my family.  I am going to have a lemonade stand at our next garage sale.  I am also thinking about having a fun run and making custom t-shirts, stuff like that.  If you have some ideas for me, please tell me.  Thank you!

I am also collecting donations to help achieve my goal. I have an online fundraising website that you can donate at.  It is through World Vision.  Here is the link *click here*.  I also have the link on the top right corner of my blog.

I will try to write on my blog weekly to keep you updated.  Will you please pray for me?

The Ripple Effect of Just One Goat