Vacuum Your Way to a Successful Asthma Fundraiser

Spring has officially sprung, and for many of us that means springtime walks through the park and getting your hands dirty with some gardening. However for others, springtime marks a return of dreaded allergens, dust, dirty carpets, pet dander and breathing troubles. That’s right – asthma season is here!

Many of my relatives have a bad time with asthma. So I anticipate the month of May because it offers some respite in National Asthma and Allergy Awareness Month, which is personally one of my favorite fundraisers to participate in.

National Asthma and Allergy Awareness Month was a good time of the year to be reminded that what is a walk in the park for the rest of us; can cause asthma and allergy sufferers complete and utter misery.

For instance a trivial item like a dirty carpet to some, when not properly vacuumed and maintained, can actually have an asthma sufferer bedridden for days on end. In fact the indoor air quality (IAQ), which refers to the breathing quality of the air inside your home, can actually spread common household particles, like dust, pollen and pet and insect dander, to fall into and become trapped in carpet fibers. Each time people walks across a carpet, or say if a child rolls on the carpet the particles will become dislodged and circulate through the air, causing breathing problems once again.

So why do asthma sufferers insist on having carpet in their homes? Well carpet actually benefits the asthma and allergy sufferer in some ways, according to Werner Braun, the President of CRI. Braun maintains that scientific studies actually show that having a carpet can actually decrease asthma and allergy symptoms. If you’re scratching your head as I was, wait until you hear these findings:

An 18-nation study of 20,000 participants revealed that carpeted bedrooms reduced asthma and allergy symptoms when they were kept properly vacuumed.

Why?

Because carpet fibers actually act as containment and filtering system – trapping indoor air pollutants to stop them from circulating throughout the home. When the carpet is vacuumed regularly, particles are removed entirely from the home.

When you mix this trapping tendency of carpet with the fact that today’s carpet is generally more hypo-allergenic (made with allergy-friendly materials such as polyester, nylon and olefin fibers) carpet is actually safe and beneficial to those who suffer from allergies and asthma.

So how does this information about carpets help you and your allergy suffering friends raise money to help alleviate the pain of asthma? What about giving families what they need most yet don’t have time to devote to this busy time of year…spring cleaning? May was a great month for taking your fundraiser to the streets. Going from house to house in your neighborhood asking people to let you vacuum their carpets for a small fee – to benefit those suffering from allergies and asthma!

True, there are a lot of causes for individuals to choose from – lung cancer, Crohns disease or colitis, heart disease, animal welfare – however, how many of those actually offer a service to the people who donate? How many offer them something they really need?

While a daffodil or a tag to hang off your car mirror might be a nice reminder, the most innovative fundraisers tap into what people really need. And when you consider that most of us don’t have the money to hire a weekly housecleaning service, how happy do you think a busy working mom might be if you offer to vacuum her carpet for $15 – and tell her that the money is going to fund asthma research.

Considering that as many as 300 million people worldwide suffer from asthma, it wouldn’t be a surprise if one of the members of the household – or more – were an asthma sufferer themselves.