Raffle Dazzle Winner!

Our first online raffle did not have the necessary level of ticket sales to give away the trips we originally planned. As stated in the rules, that resulted in converting the event to a simple 50/50 with ONE winner. The raffle program made its automated choice ... and the winner is ...

Catherine Apostolos!

Catherine shared that she and her friends are regulars at our festivals, and she loves supporting our fundraising efforts. She, like many others in the community, are people to whom we give our heartfelt thanks. Her winning story is a fun one, too, because she bought ONE ticket, and as our 50/50 winner, she made her money back AND made 50 times as much in profit! Congratulations Catherine, on your $1020 win!  

 

 

Effortless Giving

dog giving a hand  Giving a Hand Can be Easier Than You Think!

We understand the financial challenges we all face. It's difficult to keep up with our obligations and still make charitable donations. That's why our Effortless Giving Program makes so much sense. It's based on the ability to generate small donations simply from the buying activities you already make on a routine basis. After a short setup it is truly 'effortless' to give.

RoundUp App

If you ever buy anything with a credit or debit card, you can automatically donate your spare change on each purchase you already intend to make. RoundUp works using the leftover cents up to the next dollar on your purchases with a registered debit or credit card (minus administrative fees).

  • Spend $10.99 at the grocery store and we will get 1 cent.
  • Spend $79.99 to get a new tire and we still get 1 cent.
  • Spend $24.15 and we will get 85 cents

This program will automatically give us the 'change' up to the next dollar amount. You can sign up on your PC using https://roundupapp.com , or download the app on your smartphone. Follow the instructions to register the card(s) you want to use for the donation and select Greek Orthodox Community of West Central Florida, Inc as the recipient of your donations. You're done! Unless you change it, we will get the 'change' from every purchase made with the registered payment source automatically. You will receive information on your donations via email from RoundUp App. 

2023 RoundUp App GOAL: Increase from 6 to 20 participants in 2023. Based our giving data thus far, 20 donors would contribute approximately $6000 net profit each year without doing anything differently with your shopping other than 'rounding up'! 

RoundUp Leverages Small Donations Into Big Results

 

Click here: Direct Link to Set Up , or use this link to see the instructions in writing: RoundUp App Directions

 

Amazon Smile

For those of you who participated in the Amazon Smile Program to benefit our Parish, we thank you. Amazon’s small percentage of the self-directed sales came to $361.50 (as of November 2022). This isn't a huge number, but it’s money the church received directly from Amazon to pay bills, with almost no effort on the part of those who participated.

With regret, we announce that Amazon is eliminating the community-directed portion of this program on February 20, 2023. Instead of allowing participants to select a charity of their choice, Amazon has created several causes that you will be able to select. Amazon feels that this will allow them to have more direct impact on specific giving goals. They are surely correct. They have contributed $400,026,236.70 in total to American charities (as of December 2022). If that amount was focused, it certainly would have measurable impact.

While it’s unfortunate for us to lose any contributions, and many of us would prefer to direct our giving to specific charities, I’m sure that their selected causes are varied enough to have one that speaks to you for future participation.

Again, many thanks for your help through Amazon Smile!