Keep Archery Excellence Open
Donation protected
My husband Jared and I started an organization to teach kids archery in 2003. We have a passion to teach archery. We feel that archery is a sport people can do all of their lives, no matter who they are, what abilities or disabilities they have, no matter the age. We feel archery makes people better in other parts of life that can't usually be taught, including focus, patience, endurance, self-esteem, caring, self-confidence, discipline, concentration, mindset, determination, how to deal with pressure, have hope and strength. As these are all strengths and characteristics important to living a full and well rounded life, we feel archery is something that needs to continue and be available for people to learn at whatever stage of life they are at. We opened an indoor archery range to allow people to come and learn and practice this sport. When we taught archery around the city, before we opened our range, we had such large participation in our classes that we required more space, so we opened a space that is easily accessible, has plenty of space for all kinds of participants, is well lit, and has a lot of space for parking.
To open our indoor archery range, we found a space that would be willing to work with our unsure budget. We were granted the opportunity to use the space we have for a very reasonable price because we were willing to take the building as is, which required us to take out an equipment loan to cover the cost of new air conditioners and other equipment we had to purchase to open this facility to the public. Our initial loan was $46,000 requiring a payment of $1850 per month. However, we have gotten behind on this payment since August, as our camps and classes and advertising during the summer didn't bring as much funding as we had estimated. We currently need $8000 to cover these back payments...
We have tried many forms of advertising, but still haven't been able to reach as many archers and people as we feel we should have by now. However, with other ranges closing down and really no other commercial archery lanes available nearby, we had no ideas of how we were supposed to advertise. So, this summer when advertising, we evidently overspent. We need $7000 to cover the bills for advertising.
We opened an archery pro shop in our indoor archery range, which has cost more than we planned and has made an additional $5000 deficit in our funding.
Up to this point, any extra funding we have needed, we have pulled from our private income, gotten credit cards to cover, or taken out additional capital loans, however, at this point, we are tapped out of personal funds, in fact even going negative lately, and having ruined our credit... we have no more avenues for credit personally, so we felt it necessary to try to find other help.
We named our initial company Christ, Bows, Arrows & Youth, Inc. (C.B.A. & You, Inc.), however, we chose to add a DBA of Archery Excellence (Archery Excellence by C.B.A. & You, Inc. ) to make it easier for people to remember the name and come to visit. We feel we can't do anything without giving God the credit first, bows and arrows is what we teach, and youth had been our main focus up until about 5 years ago, when we have found everyone is young at heart. We currently have students that are 4 years old up to almost 80 years old. We feel that if God wants this company to continue, he will let it continue, but if not, he has other plans.
We have had so very many testimonies of peoples lives who have been touched and changed for the better and ministered to by who we are and what we have taught them. We feel God has a plan for us to continue to touch peoples lives, giving us an opportunity to be a witness every day, but we need your help to continue to keep this facility available!
We need funding as soon as possible. We are receiving calls pretty much every day to collect the money for the equipment loan and the advertising from summer. Our payment was due in the end of November for our lease payment. We have not been able to make our current payment for our lease with CAM (common area maintenance) fee and taxes and insurance for the lease for last month and this month, so we need an additional $5000 to cover that.
This company has not brought my husband and I any income; it actually has cost us way more than we can handle. To be able to cover these crutial bills to keep us running is something that we feel needs to continue to help people who would otherwise not have the opportunity to learn archery, but also come to know skills and be a ministry that wouldn't have been available elsewhere.
Even though of course we would be extremely grateful to have the funding needed to keep our range open, we know everyone who comes to our indoor archery range would be extremely grateful for allowing them to continue to have a place to come and practice, learn, and get the therapy that comes with shooting.
To open our indoor archery range, we found a space that would be willing to work with our unsure budget. We were granted the opportunity to use the space we have for a very reasonable price because we were willing to take the building as is, which required us to take out an equipment loan to cover the cost of new air conditioners and other equipment we had to purchase to open this facility to the public. Our initial loan was $46,000 requiring a payment of $1850 per month. However, we have gotten behind on this payment since August, as our camps and classes and advertising during the summer didn't bring as much funding as we had estimated. We currently need $8000 to cover these back payments...
We have tried many forms of advertising, but still haven't been able to reach as many archers and people as we feel we should have by now. However, with other ranges closing down and really no other commercial archery lanes available nearby, we had no ideas of how we were supposed to advertise. So, this summer when advertising, we evidently overspent. We need $7000 to cover the bills for advertising.
We opened an archery pro shop in our indoor archery range, which has cost more than we planned and has made an additional $5000 deficit in our funding.
Up to this point, any extra funding we have needed, we have pulled from our private income, gotten credit cards to cover, or taken out additional capital loans, however, at this point, we are tapped out of personal funds, in fact even going negative lately, and having ruined our credit... we have no more avenues for credit personally, so we felt it necessary to try to find other help.
We named our initial company Christ, Bows, Arrows & Youth, Inc. (C.B.A. & You, Inc.), however, we chose to add a DBA of Archery Excellence (Archery Excellence by C.B.A. & You, Inc. ) to make it easier for people to remember the name and come to visit. We feel we can't do anything without giving God the credit first, bows and arrows is what we teach, and youth had been our main focus up until about 5 years ago, when we have found everyone is young at heart. We currently have students that are 4 years old up to almost 80 years old. We feel that if God wants this company to continue, he will let it continue, but if not, he has other plans.
We have had so very many testimonies of peoples lives who have been touched and changed for the better and ministered to by who we are and what we have taught them. We feel God has a plan for us to continue to touch peoples lives, giving us an opportunity to be a witness every day, but we need your help to continue to keep this facility available!
We need funding as soon as possible. We are receiving calls pretty much every day to collect the money for the equipment loan and the advertising from summer. Our payment was due in the end of November for our lease payment. We have not been able to make our current payment for our lease with CAM (common area maintenance) fee and taxes and insurance for the lease for last month and this month, so we need an additional $5000 to cover that.
This company has not brought my husband and I any income; it actually has cost us way more than we can handle. To be able to cover these crutial bills to keep us running is something that we feel needs to continue to help people who would otherwise not have the opportunity to learn archery, but also come to know skills and be a ministry that wouldn't have been available elsewhere.
Even though of course we would be extremely grateful to have the funding needed to keep our range open, we know everyone who comes to our indoor archery range would be extremely grateful for allowing them to continue to have a place to come and practice, learn, and get the therapy that comes with shooting.
Organizer
Melinda Hawley
Organizer
Independence, MO
