Life Matters Budget

We will hold four bake sales over the course of two semesters.

This would be potential revenue from our Dignity Dinner event. This estimate is based on 50 guests, charging $25 each. The Dignity Dinner would be a seed fund, allowing us to raise money to supplement the cost of our activities. Pending the approval of its funding, the Dignity Dinner would be our main source of revenue and our biggest fundraising event. Please note that we cannot hold this event if we do not receive the funding required (listed below) to host the event. In the past, we have not been able to host the Dignity Dinner (and, therefore, we could not raise the proposed income) because we could not cover the costs to book the event in the first place.

This amount is potential revenue from our proposed letter-writing campaign. We have a small group of adults in the local community that appreciate our efforts and *sometimes* contribute. Although we e-mail them regularly (keeping them up-to-date on our activities, inviting them to special events like lectures/fundraising activities, and asking them for funds), they do not reach out to us very often. They are an unreliable source of income.

This money will go towards catering for fifty guests at our Dignity Dinner fundraiser. This is based on an estimate of $15 per person. This is a seed fund; receiving this money will allow us to earn more money.

The Mellon Institute (our proposed venue for this event) requires security. Please note that we will not be providing alcohol at this event.

This money will go towards furnishing/buying decorations for the Dignity Dinner. We will buy such things as centerpieces, tablecloths, and place cards (to designate where our guests should sit).

We will buy refreshments for the initial general body meetings each semester, serving approximately ten people.

We will buy chalk to help in marketing our events, such as guest lectures and fundraisers.

We will buy paint for taking the Fence. This will aid us in advertising on-campus events, such as special guest lectures.

We will buy educational fetal development models in order to have accurate, scientific demonstrations on campus. These scientifically-accurate models serve as educational tools. We were unable to buy the models last year because the cost was 1/3 of our granted budget.

gave you this last year

We will use this money towards printing fliers for our on-campus events (such as guest lectures). We will post these fliers around CMU as advertisement.

We will make pamphlets listing resources about our issues; these pamphlets will be handed out on campus as part of our educational outreach initiative. For example, as part of our suicide-prevention campaign, we will make pamphlets with information about suicide warning signs, the free and confidential national suicide-prevention hotline, and information about Counseling and Psychological Services offered at CMU. With these pamphlets, we aim to positively impact the CMU community and give aid/support to students in need.

This money will go towards buying lollipops for our event "Free Hugs at the Fence for Finals." During this event, members of Life Matters station themselves in front of the Fence/outside of Doherty. We hold signs that say "Free Hugs" and give support/encouragement to students going into and coming out of exams. We also give out free lollipops; these lollipops are tagged with a note that contains positive reinforcement (e.g., "Good Luck! You can do it!") as well as the number for CAPS, just in case ("If you are feeling stressed and/or need to talk, please contact CAPS for free and confidential counseling. The number is..."). The idea is to both motivate and provide students in need with resources that they might otherwise not seek out themselves.

We will commission Kinko's to print yard signs with statistics and informational facts about our issues (such as human trafficking, the wars, extreme poverty, etc.). We will place these signs along the Cut so that students see them on the way to campus. This is an educational tool that will help spark conversation at CMU. We will put our group name on the posters, so this will also help us to get our name out on campus.

We will host All Girls Allowed (AGA) for a special guest lecture on campus. AGA was founded by Chai Ling, who was one of the students at the forefront of the Tian'anmen Square protests. AGA is dedicated to restoring life, value, and dignity to girls and mothers, and to revealing the injustice of China's One-Child Policy. Please note that AGA does not take a stance on abortion

We will host a speaker from the national organization Consistent Life. Their panelists present on a range of topics. We are most interested in having a speaker present on consistency in ethics and issues. This is the core philosophy of our group, and we would like to bring in a professional to better explain it to our members and the University community. The nature of this talk will be nonpartisan and secular.

We would like to host Rachel M. MacNair, Ph.D. to present on the following topics: killing as trauma and peace psychology. Ms. MacNair is Vice President of Consistent Life and Director of the Institute for Integrated Social Analysis. The talk would be academic in nature and based on social and decision sciences.

We will host a representative from the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN). We would like to host this event before Spring Break. The speaker will give a talk on how to identify cases of rape and/or other abuse, as well as what to do in these instances. This will help educate our campus community before they vacation; they will leave armed with information on how to protect themselves so that they can travel more safely.

We will host Rebecca Kiessling. Ms. Kiessling is a recognized national figure. She was conceived in rape and considers herself to be an abortion survivor. Ms. Kiessling will address the difficult issue of abortion in the case of rape. Ms. Kiessling is also an attorney. Her lecture will be grounded in personal experience and legal rhetoric.

This money will go towards helping our speakers arrive in Pittsburgh, PA. These guests are all from out of town. This amount would allow us to offer each speaker $100 towards airfare or ground transit.

This money will go towards helping our guests find lodging in Pittsburgh. We will be able to offer each guest $100 towards lodging. This is not the full cost of hotel accommodations.

Dare to Show is an initiative of Life Matters that seeks to unite pro-choice and pro-life students alike so that we can help support our peers who choose to continue both their pregnancies and studies. This money will be used to produce pamphlets with information about local pregnancy/parenting resources. These pamphlets will be distributed on campus.

This money will be used to host two local panelists for a Pregnancy Resource Forum. They will inform our campus community as to what resources are locally available. They will also answer questions about pregnancy and parenting, as well as adoption.

This money will be used to supply the Forum event with snacks (such as cookies) and drinks. These are for University attendees.

This amount is to buy stamps for three hundred letters for the entire academic year. We will be writing letters to our local supporters asking for contributions to help fund our on-campus events.

This money will be used to purchase envelopes so that we can send letters to supporters requesting funds.

The SFLA national conference is the world's largest pro-life convention, with speakers ranging from the UN to Congress to medical doctors. This amount would allow eight of our members to attend this educational and networking event.

This amount would pay for transportation for eight people to the conference held in Washington, D.C.

This money would be used to rent two hotel rooms for one night, hosting eight members.

$60/room/night