Nonprofits Get Creative For Home of Hope Fundraiser

Granville Homes will launch the 14th annual Home of Hope fundraising drive Thursday, Dec 6.
Since its inception in 2006, the fundraising effort has raised more than $5.2 million for local nonprofits. Funds help provide food, shelter, healthcare, and education for Valley families.
One of the unique aspects about Home of Hope is each of the designated recipients keeps all of the money generated by the $100 tickets they sell.
That’s on top of sharing in the proceeds from the tickets sold by Granville Homes and its employees.
With that kind of motivation, the nonprofits pour their imaginations into their sales efforts.
“We created Home of Hope cookies at Eddie’s Bakery and dyed staff members’ hair pink after meeting a ticket sales goal,” says Jenelle Higton, executive director of Art of Life, which helps people with cancer to connect and heal through creative expression.
“We even created a music video and Greatest Showman Parody so that no one could ever forget our phone number.”

Home of Hope Lifts Sanger Schools

Cary Catalano, coordinator for Foundation for Sanger Schools, says the group’s goal this year is 500 tickets.
To do that, Catalano and others are speaking to clubs and reaching out to people who have purchased tickets in the past. They are also putting ads in the local paper, he said.
Additionally, the foundation is conducting local media interviews and working with parent groups at each school site in Sanger.
“The people of Sanger love to know when they purchase a ticket the money stays right in Sanger Unified to help its students,” Catalano said.
Granville Home of Hope has donated roughly $350,000 to the Foundation for Sanger Schools over a 10-year period.
The donations have made a huge impact in the Sanger community, Catalano said.
“It is roughly 45 percent of our (foundation) budget so it helps out a tremendous amount,” he said.

Grand Prize is a New Home

The grand prize for this year’s Home of Hope is a new Granville “Canvas Collection” home in the Belterra community near Clovis East High School.
A total of 6,000 tickets will be sold. Each ticket is $100, said Veronique Parker, the marketing coordinator for Granville Homes.
Two thousand of those tickets will be part of two-ticket Lexus bundles selling for $200, she said. The bundles include two tickets for a chance to win the home and one ticket for a 24-month lease on a 2019 Lexus UX, a luxury crossover model, provided by Fresno Lexus.
Participants can win many other prizes as well.
The nonprofits are encouraged to sell at least 200 tickets each. In the past some have sold more than 1,000 tickets, Parker said.
Tickets go on sale Dec. 6. You can purchase tickets by phone (559) 440-8388 or by visiting this link.
Visit here for a complete list of beneficiaries.

A Huge Opportunity

Selling 300 tickets would put a big smile on Lisa Casarez’s face.
“That would be a huge blessing for our organization,” said Casarez, the founder/CEO of Angels of Grace. “It would take us to another level as far as being able to provide for the foster children.”
To reach that goal, Casarez said she is reaching out to her friends and attending special events in the community to promote Granville Home of Hope.
“Everyone has been very supportive,” she said.
Social media has also been very helpful in engaging communities and building awareness of the fundraising drive, Casarez said.
“Social media is amazing,” she said. “I was looking at our Facebook page this morning and I was amazed by how many people actually look at what we post.”
This is the first year Angels of Grace is participating in the fundraiser, Casarez said she is grateful for the opportunity.
“My heart is overwhelmed with joy and gratitude,” Casarez said. “It is a huge opportunity for us to continue our mission of taking care of the children coming out of abuse and neglect.”

Hoping To Sell Out, Again

Art of Life received nearly $60,000 last year from ticket sales.
“We hope to exceed that goal in 2019,” said Higton. “The more tickets we sell, the more people Art of Life can help.”
Making ticket buying as easy and accessible as possible is Higton’s strategy to surpass last year’s ticket sales.
“This means that we leave our phone lines open 24/7,” Higton said.

Higton said people can purchase tickets from Art of Life at its office at Palm and Nees.
Last year, Granville sold out of tickets one week before the grand prize drawing. In total, it raised $600,000 for the nonprofits.
“This year our goal again is to raise $600,000,” Parker said.