What Now?

So you’ve agreed to host a Love Party!  And now you’re like—wait, what have I gotten myself into?  Never fear—your friendly neighborhood SuperMamas are here to guide you along the way to forming the best ever Love Club.  Remember this is about creating an event that fits the personality of YOUR group of friends, so it’s going to look a little different for everyone.  Here are four simple steps to being the best CHUM a girl could ask for:

 Create your guest list and event.  Do your friends all communicate on Facebook?  Create a Facebook event.  Are your friends of the more traditional calligraphy-loving type?  Send out invitations!  Are you friends with a bunch of texters?  Text out that info!  Do what you do when you want all your friends to come hang out.

 Have your information ready to answer people’s questions.  This is the part that we’re going to help out with.  Between now and your party, we will arm you with all the information you need to answer questions about why we’re asking people to donate money.  For now, you should know that we are attempting to build a maternity ward at a hospital in Sierra Leone (West Africa).  Sierra Leone is one of the poorest nations in the world, having been at civil war for almost two decades.  Medical facilities are few and far between.  We have partnered with a doctor who wishes to build a maternity ward at an existing hospital that will serve thousands of women who would not have access to any other form of maternal healthcare.  We are still gathering all the appropriate information and will send out more details as it gets closer to the time for our parties.

 Use this time together to get people excited about what we’re doing.  The goal of Somebody’s Mama has been to turn ideas into action from the beginning.  It’s one thing to talk about how much we care about making lives better—it’s another to move forward to affect real change.  This time, we’re building a maternity ward in Sierra Leone—but next time we might be investing in small enterprise businesses or building a school.  There is no limit to what we can do if we pool our resources.  The key to our success as Mamas is to find other Mamas who get just as excited as we are.

 Make sure to collect money!  Obviously, we’re building community and awareness, but the goal of this even is absolutely fundraising.  Some people get a little anxious when we start talking about money, but there’s no reason to worry about this part.  We want to make it as simple as possible.  We will provide you with all the information about how to send in any cash or checks you collect, and you will also receive information about how you can have technology available (computer, iPad, etc.) for people to give directly on a website—the simplest way to give.  As always, all donations are tax-deductible!

Thank you for stepping up to be a House Mama.  We can’t wait to see what great things come from the power of partying!

Lots of love (obviously),

Erika Wright and Leia Johnson

Founders of Somebody's Mama