Welcome to Brad's online memory archives.

Fund-Raising Thermometer

My church is getting a vicar. We’re sharing him with another church and with the Lutheran Mission Society. There is some cost involved, and we’ve decided to raise the money outside of our regular budget. At our last church council meeting, we were talking about how we could keep this project in the front of everyone’s minds. Someone suggested a fundraising thermometer. When the president asked for a volunteer, there were crickets chirping. I waited for a while, then said I would do it.

I did most of the work Wednesday morning, but I finished it yesterday. I used an idea I saw Carol use for a bulletin board at school. You use a coiled strip of paper that you uncoil and slide up as more money is raised. It’s a brilliant idea. It took a little finagling to do it with a posterboard, but I got it to work.

I decided to go with two foamboards. They are stuck together with double-sided mounting tape. Because the tape is a solid vertical barrier, it guides the paper as you pull it up.
The red paper for the thermometer is in the lower left-hand corner.

I cut a notch out of the back foamboard to let the paper coil stick out the back. I will set the finished product on a table and lean it against a wall. An easel would work nicely, too.
Paper clips keep the coil tight.

And here is the front:
Just pull the paper up as you go.

4 Comments

  1. Lauren

    I am giddy with the beauty of its design – the taper as barrier is pure genius! This is filed away in my memory bank for future reference. And good for you for stepping up to make it! Of course, now that you’ve done this, they’ll ask you to make thermometers all the time.

  2. Peggy

    AWESOME! It looks fantastic! Way to go!

    Hey, I wonder if one of those would inspire me…using it to monitor my achievements in such areas of exercise, home projects, nice days at the beach.

  3. Lloyd

    You’ll find that you’re making thermometers for all sorts of things that never occurred to you before:

    Time until you’ve finished The Lord of the Rings movies for the 15th time.
    How much money you’ve saved up for your next hairless cat.
    Lifetime amount you’ve paid in taxes.

  4. Carol

    …and apparently brilliance can always be improved upon -why didn’t I think of the mounting tape guide idea?! Beautiful job, sir…may it yield amazing awareness and, more importantly, financial support!!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

© 2024 bradaptation.com

Theme by Anders NorenUp ↑