8/14/2019 Fundraising Article Guardian Angels

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Bringing Heart and Hope to the Classroom

Chaska’s Guardian Angel’s School raised more than $1,400 to support their technology needsthrough a one-of-a-kind educational and inspirational fundraiser with author Janae Bower.Janae, a local Twin Cities, first-time author, recently published the award-winning book The

 Little Girl Who Found IT: A Story of Heart and Hope. It is a beautifully illustrated story about alittle girl’s life-long journey to find IT – the thing in life that will bring joy, meaning and love.

As a little girl Janae dreamed about growing up and writing a book that would inspire hope inothers. IT has! The book was selected as the 2003 winner for the Self-help/Psychology category by the Midwest Independent Publisher’s Association. A matching, handmade doll of the book’scharacter was created by a woman inspired by the story. Other keepsakes like the doll havefollowed.

Another way the story inspires others is through fundraisers with nonprofit organizations.Organizations sell the book with its and matching keepsakes and then receive a significant

 portion of the proceeds from the sales. It is a win-win partnership – the organization raisesmoney for its important causes and Janae shares her story with many people.

Father Larry Johnson, Pastor of Guardian Angels, agrees on the tremendous value of this partnership. “This is a win-win fundraising opportunity. Janae offers your school children thewonderful opportunity to meet and experience an author. She does not charge for her time withthe children and she shares with the school a generous percentage of the money raised fromselling her book.”

The fundraiser is designed to fit each organization’s needs. Janae partnered with Father LarryJohnson, Principal Nancy Ronhovde and her staff to customize their vision. The first part of the

fundraiser started with a kickoff event at the PTO meeting to inspire the parents. Janae’smessage included how family plays a special role in making their children’s dreams come true.She shared how her:

• Parents taught her how to find IT

• Father-in-Law generously donated his time and talents to illustrate the book 

• Husband supported her – especially financially as they invested $10,000 upfront to getthe book published

• “Adopted father,” Fr. Larry Johnson, continues to provide opportunities like this one toshare her dreams with others (he was pastor of her church while growing up in Rush City,MN).

Families of Guardian Angels like Kristen Vidmar, mother of two boys, were touched by her story and the book’s message. "The Little Girl Who Found It " made such an impact on me that I just knew after listening to the author talk about how the book came about, I had to buy it for every woman close to me. Whether that was a sister, sister-in-law, mother, mother-in-law, nieceor friend. The book portrayed everything a young girl needs to learn and the older ones NEEDto remember throughout out their lives....it doesn't matter what age you are, the message comesacross strong! When you get the chance to read a book with such a heartfelt message you can'thelp but want to pass it on!!” 

8/14/2019 Fundraising Article Guardian Angels

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The families that chose to be part of the fundraiser made a commitment to sell at least three books and then each of them received a free book signed by the author as a thank you. A total of 60 families participated.

The second part of the fundraiser had Janae spending the next day in the classrooms meeting allthe students as the “artist in residence.” She spoke with pre-schoolers through eighth graderssharing with them her experiences of being an author and the story’s message.

“This was a great opportunity for us was to have our own one day ‘Author in Residence.’ For students to see the book, meet the author, and even better, have her share her life with them wasa valuable learning tool and positive modeling experience,” according to Nancy Rondovde.

Students learned about the process an author goes through to write a book from the initial idea tothe actual publication. They viewed various artifacts from her seven-year journey to publish the book: sample illustrations, a market research survey, the first draft of the book, different book 

designs and then finally the finished product.

They also discussed the importance of finding IT. Janae shared how faith carried her though theseven years it took to finally publish the book. “Many times I wanted to give up or publish it pre-maturely. My faith reminded me that God graced me with IT and that IT would be ready inHis time not mine.”

The day Janae spent in the classroom with these 300 students was one of her fondest moments.“It was one of those moments that I knew this was IT - an important part of God’s purpose for my life. I felt so blessed to work with Guardian Angels and was excited for future opportunitiesto do the same thing with other organizations.”

Students were also affected in different ways. Some vowed never to lose IT and others wereinspired to live their dreams of writing and illustrating: “I want to be writer like you when I growup.” “Your father and law is a good grayer – I want to do that too.”

The students noticed that the book is part of “The Little IT Series” and were curious what thenext book of the series would be. Janae received many suggestions for the next book includingone that she’ll never forget from an insistent little boy in 4 th grade. “I think you should writeabout the little dog who found IT – the dog was once a cross dog and then it became nice.”

Janae confirmed that the next book in the series is going to be about the little boy finding ITinspired by the recent birth of her son, Gavin. “But you never know after that, the next book God leads me to write could be about the little dog.”

 Janae is hoping with all her heart that someone will read this article and want to partner with her to provide another God-inspired fundraiser. Are you IT? You can contact Janae at 

 janae@innerconnections.biz  , 612-554-1367 or www.innerconnections.biz  to find out more about the book and fundraising opportunities.