Check Out Crystal Burgel’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Crystal Burgel.

Hi Crystal, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My husband and I were foster parents for several years. In April 2021, we felt God directing us to begin collecting clothes and toys in our garage to share with other foster families. I made a Facebook post asking for donations. Right away I received messages from two friends, Nicki Kimball and Katie Krabill, who said they wanted to be a part of what we were doing. Within a month, we could no longer park in our garage because of the amount of donations. I made a Facebook post asking if anyone knew of a space that we could use. I was directed to Liz Carter, the former owner of Union Station in Bellefontaine (now owned by Ryan and Julie Cole). Liz was instrumental in us getting off the ground. She gave us a room to use and only charge us 10% of the donations we brought in for the 1st 6 months, which most months was very little. She also walked us through the steps to register with the State of Ohio, to get our EIN number and to file to become an official 501(C)3. Throughout the process of getting these things done, donations poured in and families started coming in to get items from our free store.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
One of our biggest challenges was getting the word out that we were there and ready to serve families. We tried multiple avenues (Facebook, reaching out to churches, schools, foster agencies, etc.). We had a lot more donations coming in than going out. The biggest growth we saw, as far as people using our services, came after we joined the Logan County Chamber of Commerce. Lydia Hess walked alongside us for several months. She gave us some great suggestions and connections which opened the door for us to get in front of a lot of new groups of people.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
We provide clothing, shoes, toys, beds, baby items, detergent, hygeine items and more to foster and kinship families in Logan, Champaign, Clark, Union, Hardin & Shelby counties. We have a store set up so the families can come and “shop”. All of the items are free for the families. Through the time the families are shopping and through text and email conversations, we are also made aware of other needs families have and try our best to meet these as well. We have purchased heaters, air conditioners, washing machine, baby formula. We have paid money towards bills that are overdue. We worked with a local florist to put together a tea party for the little girls in a family that went through the death of one of their foster children.

We also provide events for our families. We host a Mom’s Brunch and a Back to School event each year. We have also rented a skating rink, the splash pad in West Liberty & the pool in Bellefontaine. This year we are providing an outing at a Dayton Dragons game. These events help us connect to our families and help them connect with one another.

This year we have a big goal of providing year long memberships for our families to a place they enjoy going (the Columbus Zoo, COSI, their local pool, etc). We know it is important for kids to get out of the house and have fun experiences with their families. We have been able to purchase, or are in the process of purchasing these for 66 families. We still have several families on the waiting list that we will purchase for as funds come in.

How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
We accept donations of new or gently used clothes, shoes, toys, books, and baby items (with the exception of cribs and car seats which we only give away brand new). We accept monetary donations. Cash and checks can be mailed to us. We also have paypal: raisingarrowsoh@gmail.com.

We are always looking for volunteers to help open our store during shopping hours.

We have worked with churches and businesses that have done specific donation drives (diapers, detergent, socks & underwear, etc).

We love to be invited to speak to groups of people to share who we are and what we do.

We are always looking for ways to partner with businesses. (See the way we partner with a couple of businesses in our answer to the local gem question.)

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.raisingarrowsoh.org
• Facebook: Raising Arrows Ohio