Need A Bit of Advice :/

[TheGreatMatsu]

Before I start, let it be known that I have read the guidelines and I am not here to ask for money! I am merely looking for advice from someone who might be able to point me in the right direction, that is all. To emphasize that I'm not here to ask for money, I have chosen to not put the link to the fundraiser on this thread.

So here's the deal, with that out of the way...

(If you don't want to read my sob story, just skip it and go to where it starts with "Getting to the point, though,!")

Yes, I am running an online fundraiser, and here's why. My girlfriend Emily is going through the enlistment process to get into the Army... we're hoping that she can get into basic training sometime in August or September. As both her boyfriend, and as a former Army veteran myself, I know the stress that she's going through. For those of you who aren't familiar, this is a pretty big step for her (and perhaps us later on in the future, who knows only time will tell). As such, it comes with it's own unique and continuous stresses... and I'm sure I don't even need to tell the uninitiated that basic training is going to come with a great deal of stress for her. On top of that, this year has proven to be a pretty stress-inducing year both on she and I. Basically, what I want to do is give her a few days at Disney World to A) celebrate this step in her life and B) to give her a week to get away from the stresses of the enlistment process where she doesn't have to think about real life and basic training. The trouble is that she and I are both working part time jobs... that can't even kind of begin to afford the money we'd need just for tickets, without working ourselves like dogs every day of the week, which is both impossible and illegal for our workplaces to give us... and that's just for the tickets, not counting food, gas, or lodging. I know that this is not the most charitable of causes by any stretch of the imagination, but this is my only shot at making this happen for her, short of miraculously winning a contest for a Disney vacation. Also, I'm 99% sure she has no idea I'm doing this for her, and I'm hoping to keep it that way until (hopefully) this thing works.

Getting to the point, though, I am looking for somewhere, anywhere I can go to spread the word about what I'm doing that will help the cause. As stated above, this is not a plea for money from the DIS community. What I'm looking for from here is someone who knows a forum or something I can hop onto and spread the word about this thing. If anyone knows somewhere, anywhere on the Internet and can give me a URL, I'd be eternally grateful.

Alternatively, if anyone knows of another way I can make this work, I'm definitely open to ideas!

This thing doesn't hinge on life or death, but I really want to see this work, so I'm trying to reach out to as many resources as I can. I hope that hate spam isn't a problem here on DIS, but I really don't need it. Thank you so much in advance! :>

 

[BugsDaddy]

If it was up to me, I would give every member of our active military a free trip to WDW one week a year for the rest of their life.

That is not reality though. I don't know of any website or place to go to obtain the funds needed for your friend to get a free trip to WDW.

Maybe I am old school and maybe I am totally off base but it seems a little inappropriate to try to raise funds for something like this. With all due respect, your friend isn't even officially in the military quite yet.

I know there are charities for some of our walking wounded and of course military discounts for our active military members.

 

[lovetoscrap]

Moving to the Theme Parks Community Board.

 

[TheGreatMatsu]

If it was up to me, I would give every member of our active military a free trip to WDW one week a year for the rest of their life.

That is not reality though. I don't know of any website or place to go to obtain the funds needed for your friend to get a free trip to WDW.

Maybe I am old school and maybe I am totally off base but it seems a little inappropriate to try to raise funds for something like this. With all due respect, your friend isn't even officially in the military quite yet.

I know there are charities for some of our walking wounded and of course military discounts for our active military members.

Thank you for the response, and I agree that active duty vets should receive a bit more from Disney than they're getting. Heck, I'd be happy to see Disney just offering the same deal they're giving military to all of the veterans (not just retired ones).

And I can see your point... honestly, I feel a bit terrible for going this route, but like I said, I really don't know any other way to make this happen... which is why I'm definitely open to other options, if there are any available. I just want to do something, you know? I feel like there are a lot of people who say "Well there's just no way to do Disney and that's that" and I don't want to be one of those people :/ at the very very least, I can say I tried to do something.

 

[Serendipityblah]

Have you checked out the Shades of Green resort? It is a Disney resort made specifically for military personnel with discounted rooms. I've stayed there and it's not the fanciest but it's still really nice.

 

[TheGreatMatsu]

I think I need an active duty or retired military ID. Unfortunately, I'm neither :/ I separated Honorably after 6 years, so I get no token other than paperwork, haha. Thanks for the tip though :>

 

[SchmittyUD]

Kickstarter?

 

[TheGreatMatsu]

Kickstarter?

I have a campaign going on another site, though I might move it to Kickstarter since I've actually never heard of the other site (but it was free )... but I still wouldn't know where to go to get the word out :/ unless Kickstarter has a forum of some sort... I should look into that thanks for the tip!