The countdown is on!

46 days to go!

The registrations are coming in, teams are building, the word is spreading, and the fundraising race is on.

It’s Run for Mercy time!

We are running for the freedom and wholeness of our beautiful girls – for the physically and sexually abused, the sex trafficked, the prostitute. We are running for the drug and alcohol addicted, the broken, the hurting. We are running for the anorexic, the bulimic, the exercise obsessed, the depressed, the frightened, the anxious, the self-harming. We are running for our daughters, our sisters, our friends, our mothers, for all the young women in Canada that still need Mercy.

And we are running because we believe that God has a plan and a purpose for each one of His daughters; it is a plan for good and not evil, a plan of hope and freedom.

This is the one day, every year, when all of our supporters gather together to raise money and awareness for the work at Mercy Ministries of Canada.

The Run for Mercy: 5K Leisure Run/Walk or 10K Competitive Run

When: Saturday, May 12, 2012

Time: Registration starts at 9AM, Race starts at 10AM

Where: Campbell Valley Regional Park, Langley, B.C.

How to sign up: www.runformercy.org (Choose “Canada” from the drop down box)

Here’s how you can get involved today: 

1. Register a team. Then recruit team members from your church or youth group or workplace or friends. In addition to supporting Mercy through your team’s fundraising goal, it is an excellent opportunity to foster community as you train and fundraise as a team. Nothing like a little 10K to bring people together!
2. Spread the word for us. Put a blurb in the church bulletin, post about it on your Facebook page, announce it on Sunday mornings in church, tell people at work. Ask for donations, recruit team members, share the Mercy story – it all matters!
3. Become a sponsor. We have sponsorship package levels ranging from $250 – $5,000 for businesses, churches or individuals. Give us a call to talk it over.
4. Volunteer. Gather a group from your church to volunteer on the day of the Run as race marshals or at the registration table. We could always use an extra set of hands!
5. Be a virtual runner! If you can’t make it to the run, please know that you can still be a part of the day by registering and fundraising from afar. Consider yourself a virtual runner – you’re part of the team, as far as we’re concerned.

We have a website set up at www.runformercy.org to register individuals or teams, track fundraising efforts, send out emails – everything you would need to make this a good experience for you.

PLUS: The first 200 registrants receive a FREE Mercy Ministries foldable, BPA-free water bottle.

Join us over at our Facebook page for frequent updates as we countdown to Race Day.

We can’t wait to see you there!

Give a Mercy-filled Christmas

The Mercy-filled Christmas project is in full swing and we’re getting excited by the response we’ve had so far.

With a month to go before our Christmas celebration in the home, almost all the gifts from our gift registry have either been bought or pledged by supporters. Gifts are being provided by women’s groups, bible study groups, churches and individuals.  Thank you!

For many of the residents, Christmas can bring back painful memories and this project is a great way to remind our residents of the community that surrounds them and is rooting for their freedom.  To get a glimpse of just how much this will mean to the residents, read about last year’s  Very Mercy Christmas Party in the Speak Mercy archives.

There is still time for you to get involved in this worthwhile project; here are some ways you can do that:

• Check out the gift registry to see what is left for purchase. Choose a gift that you would like to provide for residents then buy or join forces with others to provide 12 of each item.
• Think of a gift that you would like to provide for the residents and let us know by emailing info@mercyministries.ca.
  

  $165 covers the cost of a day at Mercy

• Provide a day of Mercy.
  All our young women attend Mercy completely free of charge. As a gift to our residents you can cover the cost of counseling, meals, biblical teaching, and fitness instruction for a day at Mercy Ministries. Of course with our matching campaign going on right now, you would be providing for 2 days of Mercy with this gift. Simply go to our gift registry and purchase One day or Half a day of Mercy. 

No matter which option you choose, you will be helping to transform lives and restore hope.

Winner: Mystique Hair Design

Mystique Hair Design in White Rock, B.C. recently blessed the Mercy girls with a special afternoon, dedicated just to them!

Their staff and owner had heard about Mercy Ministries and were so moved that they shut down their trendy hair studio for the afternoon, just to concentrate solely on our beautiful residents. The residents enjoyed the special afternoon out and, gracious, does their hair look amazing! Mystique really captured their true beauty.

 

And the fun didn’t stop there….

Mystique wanted to bless a supporter of Mercy Ministries of Canada with a special gift!  This package includes a gift certificate that is good for any of their specialty services (these packages include hair and makeup application and range from $80 – $85 in value), a body/face soap and a couple of high end shampoo and lotion samples.

 

We randomly selected a winner from the comment on this post using random.org.

The winner is Commenter #2:

Michele Henter October 13, 2010 at 1:10 pm 

Amazing! Made me smile and madmen day. Way to go ladies!

Congratulations to Michele! Please email us at sbessey@mercyministries.ca.

A special treat for the Mercy girls – and a giveaway! (Contest now closed.)

CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED. Thanks to everyone for entering. Winner has been announced here.

Mystique Hair Design in White Rock, B.C. recently blessed the Mercy girls with a special afternoon, dedicated just to them!

Their staff and owner had heard about Mercy Ministries and were so moved that they shut down their trendy hair studio for the afternoon, just to concentrate solely on our beautiful residents. The ways that our supporters find to support and bless the residents here at Mercy just takes our breath away – you are all so creative, using the gifts that you have been given to love and support these precious women.

The residents enjoyed the special afternoon out and, gracious, does their hair look amazing! Mystique really captured their true beauty. Can you imagine how thrilled and overwhelmed the girls were to have an afternoon of pampering?

And the fun doesn’t stop there….

Mystique wanted to bless a supporter of Mercy Ministries of Canada with a special gift!

You have a chance to win this beautiful package – it includes a gift certificate that is good for any of their specialty services (these packages include hair and makeup application and range from $80 – $85 in value), a body/face soap and a couple of high end shampoo and lotion samples.

To enter, leave a comment on this post if you have done any one of the following (multiple entries are allowed but you’ll have to leave a comment for each separate entry so that each entry is counted) – so that means you have 7 opportunities to enter!

1 entry – leave a comment on this post, any old comment is fine.

1 entry – “Like” Mercy Ministries of Canada on Facebook then come back and leave a comment here telling us you’ve done so.

1 entry – “Like” Mystique Hair Design on Facebook then come back and leave a comment here telling us you’ve done so.

1 entry – Subscribe to the Speak Mercy blog, either through email or a blog reader,  and then leave a comment here telling us you’ve done so.

1 entry – Follow Mercy Ministries of Canada on Twitter and then come back and leave a comment here telling us you’ve done so.

1 entry – Treasure Builder Extra – if you are a Treasure Builder with Mercy (monthly partner) or if you sign up to become one, just comment on this post to let us know and you’ll get another entry as well.

1 entry – Tweet about the giveaway (make sure you include @MercyCanada and the link to this post in your tweet) to your followers, then come back and leave a comment here telling us you’ve done so.

We’ll draw the winner using Random.org on Friday 22 October at 12:00 PM (Pacific time). Open to Canadian addresses only and void where prohibited. For full disclosure, this giveaway is NOT part of a paid partnership with Mystique; they simply wanted to bless our residents and one of our supporters.

A huge thank you to Mystique Hair design! You ladies are such a blessing!