So Far, So...

Well, so good, because the Lord has a plan for everything. The charity that I have felt lead to support does not have such a program, nor do they wish to begin such a program. I have emailed them again, asking whether it would be against their policy if I were to print my own stickers with their name on it, and donate a portion of the proceeds, without their involvement. I haven't heard back from them yet.

I want to talk about types of machines. The two that I have are the basic 4-selection U-Turns, but U-Turn also makes larger ones. They have two different models of 8-selection machines, and they also have a huge 12-selection machine. You can see pictures and info about all of these on their website.

You can usually spend between $80-200 on these machines if you want to, but on eBay I found a machine that the folks simply wanted to get rid of. I bought it for $46, and made a deal with them to get another one for the same price. So now I have two machines, for the price I could easily have paid for just one. I thank the Lord for that deal.

So then I sat down and played with the machines for awhile, over a couple days. I got some candy and played with the settings, deciding how I wanted to set the dispensers for the different candies. The U-Turns have an easily-adjustable wheel that determines how much candy comes out in each vend. In the process of figuring out which settings I wanted to use for each candy, I also figured out how to take the machines completely apart and put them together again, as well as how the mechanisms work and what to do if they get stuck. So, now I need to get myself backed by a charity, and work on placing them. I want to get these machines out there earning money for me!!

Where I'm at right now...

Right now I'm working on getting the charity of my choice to back me. Several charities already have a vending program set up, where they provide a sticker or sign for your machine in return for a donation or a percentage of the profits. The charity that I believe the Lord wants me to give to, though, does not seem to have any such program. I have emailed them, and hopefully they will prayerfully consider starting a program like that. If not, then I pray for God's guidance as to which charity I should approach next. I really want to have these machines placed by the end of this month, and I don't want to do it without a charity backing me.

After all, besides the obvious part of the idea (donating to the charity), it's also an incentive to the business that I place the machine in, because they can then write off the space required for the machine. So it's a win-win situation all the way around. That is, if I can get the right charity behind me.

Once I have charity backing, I can work on getting them placed. Definitely the hardest part. I'm really a rather shy person... But I don't want these machines spending any more time just sitting in our kitchen. I want to get them placed and earning money. Lord willing. That's all for now, because I don't have much time. I just wanted to let everybody know where I'm at right now.