5 GoFundMe Campaigns That Will Lift Your Spirits

Tax season is in full swing — and while filing your forms might feel stressful, it’s always worth it in the end when your magical check comes in the mail. It might be tempting to splurge with your tax refund, but there are also certainly more worthwhile ways to use your money. After you #TreatYourself, a great way to give your tax return a new life is through GoFundMe — specifically, these inspiring, women-driven campaigns.

1. Constructing Our Future: This story is so inspiring that it’s found its way to NPR. Two years ago, a problem and a solution collided in the prison cell of Vanessa Thompson. The problems: 10,000 abandoned homes in Indianapolis and a recidivism problem within the Indiana Women’s Prison population. The solution: Constructing Our Future, an organization that allows female inmates to restore abandoned homes during their time in jail in exchange for the homes themselves upon release through sweat equity. With more support, the result of this campaign could provide women and children with a place to live while restoring blighted neighborhoods in need of revitalization.

2. Lils 4s – A Safe Haven for the Kids: After raising a daughter while homeless, Letitia Conliffe wanted to give back to her community once she got back on her feet. That’s why she created Lil’ 4’s: “a place where kids can walk through the door after school and find a hot meal, a computer to do their homework, mentors to help them succeed in school, and activities to keep them busy.” Fifty-something kids rely on Conliffe’s space in Sulphur Springs, TX, and every donation made to this campaign directly benefits them.

3. Walking Tall Homeless Ministries: Felisha Ruehmer uses her gift of cosmetology in an incredible way through the Walking Tall Homeless Ministry: By providing homeless people with free haircuts and showers, she has been able to inspire feelings of pride, self-love, and empowerment to some of America’s most vulnerable citizens. Now, she’d like to use GoFundMe to take her mission to the next level by giving out clothes, food, and toiletries from a traveling RV.

4. Syrian Refugee Mom’s Cookie Dream: After fleeing their native Syria four years ago, Ruwaida, her husband Khaled, and their two children walked all the way to Jordan carrying everything they owned. After selling most of their belongings to survive, they were left with one trinket when they finally came to safety in the United States: A cookie mold that Ruwaida’s mother had given her. This nouveau American dream began then, and it’s now morphed into Ruwaida’s dream of a successful cookie business in order to successfully support her family in their new home in Atlanta.

5. Lemonade 4 Lunch Idaho: When six-year-old Amiah Van Hill noticed her classmates struggling to purchase lunch in her hometown of Hayden, ID, she did what any kid would do to raise money: a lemonade stand! Her massive success has helped her go viral, pushing Van Hill toward a goal of $100,000 to pay off the entire lunch debt for the state of Idaho.

What are your favorite current GoFundMe campaigns? Let us know @BritandCo!

(Photo via Lemonade 4 Lunch Idaho GoFundMe)