St. Mark's Episcopals Church in Palo Alto came up with an unusual - and fun - way to raise funds - over $13,000 for GAIA. Whether you are a Stanford fan or not, if you live in the SF Bay Area, you are probably familiar with the irreverent and entertaining Stanford Band...  This talented and zany group agreed to donate a performance for a GAIA fundraiser.  Here's how it worked....

St. Mark's parishioners volunteered to buy and/or sell $10 raffle tickets. The grand prize of the raffle was a once in a lifetime opportunity to have the Band appear at an event of the winner's choosing.  All the excitement around the raffle created a snowball effect.  The children brought in pennies, nickels and dimes from their own piggy banks and raised $200 to buy a bicycle ambulance.  And the Youth Group organized and held a concert with their own rock band – ‘Backlight’ and raised $3,000. The lead singer of the band also wrote a beautiful song about GAIA – “It Matters”, which was performed along with a multi-media slide show that brought down the house. 

St Marks was able to generate a lot of publicity for GAIA, really engage the congregation to support GAIA, and ultimately, build a new wing on an orphanage in Chisomo in Malawi.