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Illini Elite Volleyball Club
Decatur, Illinois
July, 2003
After playing in competitive club volleyball tournaments in Indianapolis, Minneapolis and Chicago, 15-year old Cassandra and the other 10 members of her Illinois-based "Illini Elite Volleyball Club" scored the victory they needed to earn their spot at the National Junior Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia!
In all the excitement of their victory, they also learned that they each needed to raise $550 in order to attend the National Junior Olympics. Then, a short time later, that amount was increased to $680 per player when all the costs were estimated! (Yikes!)
Luckily, Cassandra's dad is the principal at the local high school. He had seen many of the teachers in the school purchasing candles from a student who was selling candles to raise money for a class trip. The student was using FundRaising.Com's "Scentsations" candle brochure. He had seen many students try to sell things before, but he had never seen the teachers actually buy things from the students before. Cassandra said, "The girl sold about $500 worth of candles in the first day - and only two of those candles were from her family!"
Cassandra's dad was initially worried that the quality would not be as good as the pictures in the brochure…but then he saw that the teachers were even more excited after the candles were delivered, since "they looked just as beautiful as they had looked in the brochure." Cassandra's dad knew that these "Scentsations" candles must be something special. Perhaps, he thought, the "Scentsations" candles could help his daughter and her teammates raise the money they needed to get to Atlanta!
He ordered some "Scentsations" brochures and took them home to Cassandra. Her first reaction to the candles was that she thought they were "really neat, and really cool." She immediately started selling. "Actually," she said, " it was so easy, it was like I didn't even have to try to sell at all! The candles basically sold themselves!" Cassandra brought her "Scentsations" brochure to her little sister's softball game. The moms in the stands passed the "Scentsations" brochure around and Cassandra got hundreds of dollars in orders just from that one game!
Cassandra sold the candles for almost a month. By the time she had turned her order taker in, she had personally sold more than $1,000 worth of candles (plus, her teammates had sold tons, too!). Cassandra and her team members made 50% profit on their "Scentsations" candle sale, and Cassandra had enough money to pay her way to the National Junior Olympics.
Caitlin, Cassandra's little sister, said, "My friends from my softball team told me that their moms were really satisfied with the candles because they were so pretty." Caitlin added, "I like the caramel candy one and the cocoa bean one the best - but especially the cocoa bean one. I love the smell of cocoa beans!"
By the way, 1,500 volleyball teams from across the country competed in Cassandra's division. The Illini Elite 15-1 Division, Cassandra's team, started out in 42nd place when they entered the tournament, but they did so well against teams from Hawaii, California and Alabama, that they moved up to 27th place by the end of the weekend. Congratulations to all the girls on the Illini Elite Volleyball 15-1 Division! FundRaising.Com salutes your abilities, your dedication, your commitment and your achievement!
Note: Cassandra's mom was also an important helper - she helped deliver the candles to the parents of Caitlin's softball teammates. That just goes to show you how fundraising is a family sport. It was great for all of us at FundRaising.Com to see this wonderful family pull together to help Cassandra fundraise her way to the National Junior Olympics.
For being such Super-Sellers, we are sending Cassandra's team 100 Free Dominos Pizza Cards. Great job team!
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