Silent Auction $ Hacks by Ruth Paget

Silent Auctions $ Hack by Ruth Paget 

I have attended and worked at silent auctions since I was a teenager in Detroit, Michigan. Silent auctions are well attended for the good deals you can get on donated merchandise and gift certificates for services. 

Silent auctions are also famous for waiting to pay for your items for an hour or two with volunteer staff working. 

I finally had the opportunity to organize all the gathered bid sheets one year at a library silent auction and dinner and became an evil dictator. I took the winning bid sheets and put the winners’ names in alphabetical order and stapled all the multiple winners’ names together with their items, so they would not have to make multiple trips to the cashier. 

This sorting took 15 minutes to do with help from a colleague who assured people they would get their winning bids delivered to them. 

I noted the tables where the winners were seated and gave these to volunteers to deliver with the message that they could pay any time. 

The result: All items claimed and paid for at dinner end with no line. 

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Chattanooga, Tennessee Battlefield Trip by Ruth Paget

Chattanooga, Tennessee National Battlefield Trip by Ruth Paget 

One of the most interesting trips I have taken from Atlanta, Georgia is north to Chattanooga, Tennessee (1 ½ hours north barring traffic jams). My husband Laurent and I set out early for Chickamauga, Georgia and Chattanooga, Georgia battlefields one sweltering hot summer. 

The Confederacy won the battle at Chickamauga first, but put the Union in position on Lookout Mountain in Tennessee to win the battle that set up the Atlanta Campaign to gain the railroad artery of the South. At the Battlefield Parkway exit in Georgia, we exited and drove through the Chickamauga Battlefield. The Chickamauga National Battlefield Park is about ¼ mile along Battlefield Parkway to the left, but we kept on driving to Fort Oglethorpe named after the founder of the Georgia colony. 

At Fort Oglethorpe, we turned right towards the north and drove about 9 miles into Chattanooga. When the Confederates won Chickamauga in September of 1863, they thought they had routed the Union. However, in November 1863, the Union began battle again and prevailed. 

The visitor center in Chattanooga notes that there are three different battle sites by Lookout Mountain above and around Chattanooga: 

-Battle of Orchard Knob 

-Battle of Lookout Mountain 

-Battle of Missionary Ridge 

The Lookout Mountain Battlefield sits above the Tennessee River, which meanders around the South. It is 652 miles long. The River starts at Knoxville, Tennessee and flows south and west through northern Alabama and parts of northern Mississippi. The Tennessee River empties at Paducah, Kentucky into the Ohio River just a few miles upstream from the Mississippi River. Obviously, in addition to the railroad, the Tennessee River could also move men, weapons, and supplies to both Confederate and Union forces. 

The visitor center exhibit at Chattanooga, Tennessee notes that both sides tried to starve each other during these battles, but the Union was in a worse situation in their mountain location. 

According to www.battlefields.org , the Union had the following to eat: 

-4 cakes of hard bread 

-a quarter pound of pork 

Those were the rations for 3 days 

Even with those rations, the Union won the Battle of Chattanooga and took control of the city, railroad, and the Tennessee River at Chattanooga and began their advance from mountainous Tennessee to hilly Atlanta, Georgia. 

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Eastern European Food $ Hacks by Ruth Paget

Eastern Europe Food $ Hacks by Ruth Paget 

Lesley Chamberlain writes about delicious, nutritious, and economical food in her cookbook The Food and Cooking of Eastern Europe (468 pages – University of Nebraska Press). The centuries’ old recipes she preserves have lasted longer than the nations she describes such as Yugoslavia.

The following recipes are especially economical and have sustained Eastern Europe through kingdoms, empires, and dictatorships to modern-day democracies: 

-Serbian Salad (The modern country of Serbia was part of the former Yugoslavia) 

Ingredients: 

-green peppers 

-green tomatoes 

-red tomatoes 

-cucumbers 

-onions 

-white or red cabbage 

-sugar 

-vinegar 

-olive oil 

-seasonings 

For this recipe, you chop and boil the vegetables with the seasonings and let it cool for 4 or 5 days in a cool place to blend flavors. Bread and fruit make this a nice picnic lunch using this pickled salad. 

-Warsaw Salad from Poland 

Ingredients: 

-haricot beans (white or Navy beans) 

-lemon juice 

-mustard 

-pepper 

-boiled eggs 

-1 apple 

-cucumbers 

-onion 

-sour cream  

To make this dish very economical, you soak beans overnight and boil them the next day. Using canned beans saves lots of time, but shop around for the best prices. Sour cream is a dressing here.

-Autumn Potato Salad from the Czech Republic (a recipe from the former Czechoslovakia) 

Ingredients: 

-potatoes 

-onions 

-green pepper 

-tomatoes 

-sour apples 

-cucumber 

-mayonnaise 

-lemon juice 

-2 hard boiled eggs 

Apples are highly nutritious and inexpensive. They stretch this recipe to serve more people and provide a nice contrast to the potatoes as well. 

The recipes in The Food and Cooking of Eastern Europe by Lesley Chamberlain provide delicious, nutritious, and relatively inexpensive dishes that can be easily recreated in the United States to save money, retrieve one’s heritage, or make best use of ingredients at hand. 

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Fundraising Ideas for Historical Museums by Ruth Paget

Fundraising Ideas for Historical Museums by Ruth Paget 

I associate historical museums more with field trips than as money generating sites, but I think historical museums need to think about revenue generating activities when seeking donors or government support. 

Class field trips like the ones I took as an elementary school student to the Detroit Historical Society helped provide that organization with operating funds as well as teaching young students about the Chippewa Native Americans, French fur traders and Michigan trading posts, and the impact of the Ford Model T on American society. 

The high cost of insuring field trips has made them almost a relic of the past in public schools in cash-strapped districts. This situation has probably forced historical societies to seek donors to ensure operating funds. I love historical museums and think there are several ways they could increase revenue. 

The first way is to seek out parents who will take their own children on field trips. Reaching parents is not as easy as contacting a school board, but historical museums might think of advertising the benefits of a visit to their site to the following markets, especially if they have newsletters: 

-religious organizations 

-sport teams 

-language organizations 

-charter schools 

-K12 school groups 

-music schools 

-dance schools 

-drama groups 

When I lived in Wisconsin in the 1990s, field trips had become a parent’s responsibility. I took my daughter Florence to the Wisconsin Historical Museum on Capitol Square in Madison to see exhibits about the Ho-Chunk Nation Native Americans, the lumber and paper industries, and German and Norwegian settlers, who lived in log cabins. This is another historical museum that is important for understanding the sociological and cultural history of the state. 

Historical museums have events that other historical museums might replicate. The Pickett’s Mill Battlefield, a Georgia State Park, holds re-enactments of the Civil War Battle fought there with African-American and white troops on the Union side. This event engages volunteers and the community. Even a nominal fee to attend this re-re-enactment could raise operating funds. 

Many historical museums offer hikes around their site or long walks in the museum. Museum visitors might welcome the chance to buy items such as the following to help support the museum:  

-cold water 

-cold soda 

-cheddar cheese fish chips 

-shrimp chips 

-tortilla chips 

-potato chips 

-brownies 

-guava cookies 

-cold brew coffee 

A combination of donors, sales, and parent doing their own field trips might increase historical museum revenue to keep these community resources open and increase funds for temporary exhibits and historical documentaries shown at the site. 

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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50-50 Raffle Fundraising by Ruth Paget

50-50 Raffle Fundraising by Ruth Paget 

When I joined the Inner-City Youth Tour to China in 1978 when I lived in Detroit (Michigan), my family and family friends used 50-50 raffles to help pay for my trip to the Peoples’ Republic of China with 21 other young people. 

Fundraising for this trip was difficult, because the United States would only diplomatically recognize the Peoples’ Republic of China on March 1, 1979. Potential donors asked me, “Why do you want to visit a Communist country?” 

I thought that question was an evasion answer. Detroit was in a recession in 1978, which meant auto plant closures. People did not have a lot of money to spend on fundraisers to buy chocolate bars even, which I also sold to help finance my trip to China.  

50-50 raffles worked very well in a recession situation as a win-win fundraiser. For example, you can sell raffle tickets for $1 for an hour. At the end of the hour, you draw a winner and evenly split the jackpot. If you raise $50, the organizer and winner get $25 each. If you run six 50-50 raffles in an evening, you can raise $150 for six hours work with the minimal financial outlay of buying raffle tickets. 

50-50 raffles are not legal in all states. You have to check with your local supervisor’s office or mayor’s office to see if these raffles are legal or what you need to do to petition to make them so. 

These 50-50 raffles helped make my dream of going to China a reality in 1979. Slow and steady income also keeps morale up for big fundraising events as an added benefit. 

Even in non-recession times, 50-50 raffles are a quick way to make money, which local governments might consider for non-profit organizations to earn money. 

By Ruth Paget, author of Teen in China, Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Fun Food in Marietta, Georgia by Ruth Paget

Fun Food in Marietta, Georgia by Ruth Paget 

I like sneakily indulging in chain food restaurant food each time my husband Laurent and I visit Dobbins Air Force Base in Marietta, Georgia north of Atlanta. Some of my favorite places to dine include:  

-Popeye’s Louisiana Kitchen  

I like the popcorn shrimp combo with buttermilk biscuit, a side, and a drink. My favorite sides are coleslaw with a thick dressing, spicy red beans and rice, spicy Cajun fries, and macaroni and cheese. Popeye’s serves seasonal fish. 

I got on their mailing list and learned about their flounder sandwiches. I had those twice and really liked them. They come with mild or spicy breading. The spicy breading was not too hot. 

People who say they do not like fast food might be surprised by Popeye’s with its great sides and not too greasy food. 

-Cracker Barrel 

I like Cracker Barrel, because you can order a Southern breakfast there all day long in addition to French toast and pancake combination meals. 

My favorite breakfast combo has two eggs over easy, a choice of meat (I like bacon, but you can also order things like spicy chicken sausage), loaded hash brown casserole with cheese, and buttermilk biscuits with gravy. (The gravy is a béchamel sauce made with flour, butter, and milk.) 

-Panda Express 

Panda Express serves food buffet style. My three favorite meals are: 

-broccoli beef 

-Mongolian beef (stir fried sliced green onions with beef and garlic) 

-refried rice 

-Kentucky Fried Chicken 

I eat KFC about once a month at home in California and this does not change when I travel.  

I like the 8-piece bucket meal with biscuits, coleslaw, and mashed potatoes and chicken gravy. 

-Dunkin’ Donuts 

I like to eat Dunkin’ Donuts for breakfast before airplane travel. This little susspeisen (“sugar meal” – pronounced “zusshpaisen” in German) fills me up all the way from Atlanta (Georgia) to Monterey (California) where I live. 

6 donuts plus 2 coffees cost about $15 in Marietta, Georgia. That is a great deal to end a trip. 

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Fundraising with Pizza by Ruth Paget

Fundraising with Pizza by Ruth Paget 

I wish fundraising with pizza had existed when I was fundraising to go to the Peoples’ Republic of China in 1978 with the Inner-City Youth Tour to China from Detroit, Michigan in 1978. I still got to go to China, but I think it would have been easier to raise funds, if pizza fundraising had existed. 

I learned about pizza fundraising when I checked the website for my local Mountain Mike’s Pizzeria in Marina, California. I saw that they help sports and other non-profit organizations with pizza fundraisers. 

Their website has an online submission form for non-profit organizations with regulations stating that the organization can promote the fundraiser to their supporters before the day of the event with no day of the event promotion. 

The individual stores make a 20% to 40% donation based on amount of money raised depending on the store’s location. 

For example, 20% of $1,000 in sales is $200. $200 plus the fact that you eat a pizza meal is a win-win fundraiser I think. 

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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