In March, sisters Chanel Merritt and Megan Bishop got to talking and together decided they wanted to do something to give back to their community.
Initially, they discussed finding organizations to volunteer with, but as they were researching nonprofits, the sisters realized there were many local groups they had never heard of prior.
Bishop said if she had not heard of these organizations, others probably hadn’t heard of them either.
“They need more attention,” she said about the nonprofits.
HELPING LOCAL NONPROFITS
With this in mind, she and her sister decided to focus their efforts on raising money and awareness for local nonprofits, starting Operation Wandering Waffle (OWW), a charitable campaign with that specific mission.
Merritt, who lives in Redmond (Bishop lives in Duvall), said the first event they held was a scavenger hunt to benefit the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Eastside in Redmond. The hunt was held in May, during Mental Health Awareness Month. Merritt said they raised more than $1,000 for the Redmond organization. In addition, they collected about 450 pounds of food and goods for Redmond-based Hopelink and Homeward Pet Adoption Center in Woodinville.
Their latest endeavor is an online art auction to benefit Old Dog Haven, a network of private homes helping homeless senior dogs. According to the organization’s website, they “focus on the oldest dogs left at shelters but occasionally (they) can take a dog directly from the owner.” In addition, Merritt said, as the dogs they help are older and sometimes have health issues, Old Dog Haven also helps new owners with their veterinarian bills.
Merritt said when they first learned about the nonprofit, they admired their mission and wanted to help them.
Bishop added that while they are open to helping any type of organization, the two of them do have a soft spot for those involving animals.
“We’re suckers for dogs and animals,” she said with a laugh.
AUCTIONING OFF ART
The idea for an auction came as a result of Bishop’s past career in the gaming industry. Bishop said that, in addition to attending art school, has led her to have a lot of friends who are artists. She said the art they have collected for the auction has come from those friends, adding that the artwork they donated is all over the place in terms of style and medium.
Merritt said people will be able to view the auction items online beginning Monday and they will be open for bidding on Nov. 7-8. She added that they have 21 pieces up for auction and they are still accepting donations.
“We will always take more,” Merritt said.
The OWW website (www.operationwanderingwaffle.com) will have links to the auction site so people can view items and bid on them, beginning Monday.
HARD WORK FOR BEGINNERS
Prior to forming OWW, neither Merritt nor Bishop — who spent half their lives in Redmond — had any experience fundraising or working with nonprofits.
Merritt said they just knew they wanted to give back. She said many organizations hold 5K runs for their causes, but she and her sister wanted to do something different — which is where they got the idea for the scavenger hunt.
“It turned out fairly successful,” Merritt said.
Following the hunt, she said they wanted to continue the work and began brainstorming on other ways they could help local charities — and the art auction was born.
Being new to this type of work, both sisters admit the experience is a lot of learning as they go.
Bishop said they have learned just how much effort goes into making a fundraising campaign successful — which is even more work when there are only two people involved. Because of this, she said they have learned to cut back on how many causes they can support. All this work — as well as money — has delayed them in turning OWW into a nonprofit.
“That costs a lot of money,” Bishop said.
SPREADING HAPPINESS
But despite all the work they have put into OWW, both Bishop and her sister say it is worth it.
Merritt said the employees at the organizations they are raising money and awareness for all work so hard and the sisters’ efforts are helping the organizations out without any extra work for those employees. This type of work makes the sisters happy to be able to give back, she said. In addition, they are giving others — family and friends — the opportunity to get involved and give back, as well.
“It’s spreading a lot of happiness,” Merritt said.
