Yesterday, we featured Mick and his fantastic idea to auction his beard for donations to Shake It Up. Today we have another innovative fundraising idea to inspire you in these challenging times – recently, the Clark’s transformed their Pause 4 Parkinson’s Curry Night into a virtual event with takeaway curries available to order and an online stream of their raffle draw with family and friends. If you have the capacity, there are still lots of great ways you can fundraise for Pause 4 Parkinson’s. Check out the Clark’s story below and get involved.

How did you transform your event into an online event?

Once we made the decision to cancel the event, a week out from the date, we created a Facebook event. For the people without Facebook we sent messages informing them of the virtual event.

We purchased 200 takeaway containers and labelled the curries. Orders were taken and held until people could collect from our home, using the separation rules.  We also had beautiful homemade Naan bread and sugar coated fennel as a palette cleanser packaged in tiny bags.

To ensure people were aware of the Shake it up Foundation, the FB event contained information and links to ensure awareness of the foundation and the wonderful work that it does for research and fundraising.

Interestingly, many who were unable to attend the original date were now able to make an order and enjoy the curries, as well as support the event. Initially, we were concerned that we would have lots of curry leftover but the opposite was true! We were making additional curries every day for a week. We also received orders from friends’ neighbours and community members whom we didn’t know.

What online platforms and services did you use.

A Facebook event was established outlining the changes and the process of ordering curries and buying raffle tickets. We made regular updates to keep people informed. A spreadsheet was created as an order form to allow us to track orders and who had paid. We also made contact via phone for those without a Facebook account.

We also used online banking which made the tracking of who had paid much easier.

We live streamed the raffle draw ( 56 prizes) via the Facebook Event. This was watched by lots of friends and family.  Our grandchildren had fun drawing the lucky winners.

Live Stream of Raffle Draw

What was the response from your family and friends?

Sadly, our son from Brisbane had to cancel his flight which was disappointing. Our other son and daughter in law and children were a great support, as they live here in Mackay. The expert skills of our daughter in law allowed the creation of spreadsheets and the  FB event.  This made the tracking of orders much easier.

A number of friends were travelling from interstate so we’re unable to make the trip as well, which was disappointing.

Friends have supported us from the very beginning of hosting an annual curry night. This included walking the streets for donations, providing raffle prizes and donations towards the practical side of things. E.g cost of a whole goat, naan bread, paper plates, chopping and assisting with the curries, providing fresh chilli….. and the list goes on. We could not have achieved what we did without the loyal support of friends and family.

What advice do you have for anyone looking to host a virtual event during these challenging times?

The most important thing was to get the information out to interested people plus tracking the orders and who had paid and purchased raffle tickets. Technology allowed this however a lot of those interested didn’t have a FB account so we made lots of calls and sent lots of messages.

We also had to keep track of the number of curries available, when people were collecting their order and also who had cash and who had used the online bank facility.

April is Parkinson’s Awareness Month and our annual Pause 4 Parkinson’s campaign. 

If you have a great fundraising idea? Contact our Community Fundraising Manager Isobel who can help you make your idea a reality.