06 Sep CELEBRATING KK23!
Hello everyone! We had a fantastic time at the 19th Annual Kammy’s Kause on August 26th. It was our biggest year ever and we are so thankful for everyone who helped us achieve this huge milestone. We had 75 volunteers that helped us run this event from 12pm-10pm (volunteer hours were 6am-12am). We had 12 amazing bands playing music for us all day long. We had over 50 artisan vendors selling their wares and creations. We had over 10 food truck options for all our patrons and staff. It was the LARGEST Kammy’s Ride ever in its 14th year with a total of 128 motorcycles participating (most of those had an additional rider with them). We had over 100 items in our silent auction (completely online now and we do offer shipping for those that want to participate next year!!) that raised over $13,000. We have a 2001 Harley Davidson 883 Sportster that has been customized as a one-of-a-kind Kammy’s Kause / Kammy’s Ride motorcycle that is currently being raffled off and will bring in an additional $10,000 once all tickets are sold. Best of all, we had 12 (TWELVE) 4p- families in attendance sharing the beautiful day with us.
It’s very hard for me to express the amount of gratitude I have for the volunteers, our sponsors, our donors, our community, our vendors, our bands and our 4p- families. I try to tell them ‘thank you’ every time I see them but, yet, it doesn’t seem like enough. None of this would be possible without them and I try my best to remind them of that often.
Since moving this event to downtown Fortville we have seen a significant increase in sponsor activity. More and more businesses and people are wanting to donate their money to help us put on this event. That has never been more prevalent than it was this year. In the previous 5-10 years of Kammy’s Kause we typically top out around $25,000-$30,000 in sponsor dollars. This is the money that we raise through our contacts and relationships to fund the cost of the event. It’s very important to us that we raise enough money, on our own, to pay the bills so that we aren’t taking away from the monies raised to further our support group’s mission. Our event is costing us around $26,000 to put on each year, for reference. This is used on things such as our generators, stage/sound/lights, restrooms, kid zone vendors (so families don’t have to pay for balloon animals or face painting, etc), marketing, merchandise, tents, tables, tools, and the list continues. For this year, our sponsors really showed up. Our cost/budget was still in the same ballpark as previous years, however, our sponsors gave us almost $50,000 this year!!! Unreal!!
This set us up for a record-breaking opportunity. All we had to do was do what we did last year, day-of, and we had a legit shot at raising $100,000 for the first time EVER! We buckled down and kept our eye on the prize. But, before I throw out this year’s numbers I want to show you how my small town of Fortville has shown up the last 3 years.
Total Monies Raised:
2021: $47,527 (off the heels of covid, very tough year) Goal was $50k
2022: $67,507 – Goal was $65k
2023: $88,000+ (money still coming in) – Goal was $72k
Now, we still have that Kammy’s Ride motorcycle that is being raffled. We only have twenty-something tickets left (out of 100). Once these sell and we pull the winner, that will be another $10,000 added to our total. Bringing us to a whopping $98,000+. I have had enough conversations with private donors who said if we are that close, there is no way they’re standing by without getting us to the incredible number of $100,000 raised!
We’ve never even been close to this number before. It’s kind of crazy to stop and think about. It tells me that we are on the right path. We have the right venue and we have the right town backing us. We will only continue to grow and raise more record-breaking money in future years. We truly appreciate all the support you provide, all the love you send us and want to thank you for allowing us to represent the 4p- Support Group. It is our honor and pleasure to host this event while trying to create some good in this world. We can’t wait to see you at the 2024 National Conference and at Kammy’s Kause 2024 (August 23rd & 24th, 2024). That’s right, I’m bringing back the two-day setup for our massive 20th Annual!! Cheers to $100,000 raised! (we will get there, I promise).
Stay Kind,
Jared D. Hiner
Father, Founder & President