WFL Spotlight: Joanna Pepper

Joanna Pepper (left) is hosting another
iPad raffle this year!

Joanna Pepper proclaims she’s not a natural fundraiser, so she found an innovative way to raise funds for CPC’s Walk for Life. And she’s at it again this year.

“What gave me the idea for a raffle? It just sort of popped into my head one day,” Joanna shared. “Inspiration? Maybe! There are people who are such natural fund raisers, but I am not one of them! I despise asking people for money! But, I was not satisfied with the few hundred dollars I raised in 2011. So, I had my wheels spinning on ways to raise funds without feeling like I was pestering people.”

After she received an iPad for a gift, she knew she had a winning idea. Instead of simply asking for donations, she’d sell tickets and raffle a great prize that appealed to a wide audience. So she sought out a donor to purchase an iPad, printed tickets and found a fundraising solution that worked for her.

“The look on the winner's face last year was priceless! He had bought a ticket at the last minute the day of the walk at the zoo,” Joanna recalled.

So why does she go to all this work to raise funds?

“I was asked in my college Biology course to pick a medical issue that has moral connotations and use Scripture to support my stance on that issue. I chose abortion,” Joanna remembered. “Aside from the overwhelming scientific evidence that a new being is formed at the moment of conception, when I researched what the Bible had to say, I had an 'ah ha' moment. How can I not be compelled to action in defense of the unborn?”

“Honestly, seeing women and their children that have been impacted by CPC is the thing that keeps me involved in the ministry,” Joanna said. “The tangible evidence of the fruit of the ministry encourages me to no end. Also, I have been encouraged in the fact that persistence in my personal fundraising efforts seems to yield results as well. More money is raised every year without that much more asking!”

If you’d like to help Joanna raise funds to save lives, you can email her at kennyandjoanna@gmail.com to participate in this year’s raffle for a black 16GB iPad 4 with an Ematic 10-in-1 accessory kit. (Total value for the iPad and accessory kit is $550, which was donated anonymously.) Raffle tickets are $10 each and a limit of 150 will be sold.

To start your own fund-raising efforts with a personal webpage, visit www.cpcfriends.org/walk.