Y'all may remember by complete and utter contempt for anything relating to the school asking for money. Last year, by the end of the second week, they had already had two fund raisers and sent home the order forms for a third. And it was only the second week! I despised them. I hated the fact that they wanted the kids to be salesmen, hawking their wrapping paper, trash bags, tickets to World's of Fun, candy, etc.
Well, you may also have seen that we moved into a new district.
They are having their first fund raiser.
::looks at calender::
Yep, six weeks into school and we are having our first fundraiser.
But wait. It's not for the school.
That's right.
It's for St. Jude's.
And, there is no selling of crap involved! It's a Math-a-thon! The kids get a book with 250 math problems in it. Well, first, they go out and get pledges. Like, a penny a problem ($2.50 for all 250 problems) and then they get the problems and have a week to complete them (or as many as they can/want.)
The kids get extra credit and St. Jude's get cash. How cool is that.
And we have yet to get a request from the school for money for them.
I love this new school district.
Posted by Kayla (Member # 2403) on :
Oh, and I'm not asking for donations or anything.
I just wanted to share my joy with all y'all. Don't you wish you had a school like this?
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
What is St. Jude's?
Posted by Papa Moose (Member # 1992) on :
Well, now I'm not as impressed, as the kids get prizes as does the school, but. . .
Posted by Dan_raven (Member # 3383) on :
Isn't a caveat some type of yuppie neck wear?
I love that fundraising plan. Read-a-thon's must come next.
PS I deal with several Fund Raising companies, yes there is an entire industry who use our kids as their main sales force. I have yet to be impressed with the intelligence or morality of any of the folks I have dealt with in that industry.
Posted by Kayla (Member # 2403) on :
It's sad.
Oh, and by the way, Danny Thomas wasn't just the spokesperson. He was the founder.
Posted by Shigosei (Member # 3831) on :
You know what? If my old high school had a fundraiser, I'd help them out. Why? Because they literally have no money. What's wrong with a school asking for help when the state won't provide enough funds?
Now if you're just objecting to the crass commercialism of certain types of fundraising, then I agree with you. Turning the school into a circus for weeks just to encourage the kids to sell things is silly.
Posted by Papa Moose (Member # 1992) on :
We got connected with St. Jude's a few years ago through a radio-thon at a station where we knew the DJs. And just because the kids and school get something doesn't make it all bad.
<Didn't realize that Marlo Thomas was Danny Thomas's daughter, but did know Danny Thomas was the founder.>
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
Shigosei, There is something about a bunch of kids getting on a bus, with either a box full of candy or an envelope with forty dollars in cash, which screams "accident waiting to happen!" to me. The kids in my school are always getting their candy or money stolen, or they eat the candy and never pay for it. Teachers have to chase the kids down, and nonpaying parents, for the leftover candy or cash. Unfortunately, fundraisers are needed, but I hate the ones that rely on straight sales. I also hate the "pizza party" reward for the class that sells the most. I also hate the hordes of candy-wielding children at soccer games.(I don't actually hate THEM, just their candy-wielding ways.) Liz(in the midst of a candy sale)
Posted by Kayla (Member # 2403) on :
Shigosei, I agree, if the school actually needed money, I'd love it if they would do fundraisers. Unfortunately, our school didn't. It was a brand new school and one year, they raised money and bought new carpet! The school had only been there for three or four years at the time and they had nicer carpet than I did! They wasted all their goodwill with my by doing stupid things with the money. Of course, they'd spend hours complaining about how they didn't have enough money for this or that, but the money they raised was never for that. They had to use the money for the building fund, not for teachers or supplies. Apparently, those were two different things and there were strict guidelines about what could be used were. So, we were basically just selling crap for no apparent reason. And it wasn't even like they were sharing the money with the schools in the district that could have really used the money. It all just infuriated me.
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
We used to do the Math-A-Thon at my old school! It was a nice little way to help the hospital. My school was a bit heavy-handed in how they pressured us teachers to bribe the kids to do it. I don't mind giving occasional extra credit, but I am philosophically opposed to giving the grotesque amounts they wanted us to, but our department head announced to the kids that we would all be doing this, undermining me. But that's because my old school sucked and my old department head was a parasite, not because of the program.
But while there is nothing wrong with the program per se, just hearing the phrase "Math-A-Thon" brings back memories I've worked to repress and raises my blood pressure.
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
Kayla, Have you read The Chocolate War? Posted by blacwolve (Member # 2972) on :
That sounds so cool! I wish we'd done that in my elementary school!
Posted by Mrs.M (Member # 2943) on :
I always HATED fundraisers in school. I am not good at sales - people would say they didn't want any candy, tupperware, wrapping paper and I would stop bothering them. Plus, my mother would never bring anything into work to shill for me. I understand and agree now, but I resented it then, especially when other kids just handed their candy, tupperware, wrapping paper to their parents and won all kinds of cool stuff.
I never minded all the things we did to make money for activities in high school, though. Mostly bake sales, which just rake in the cash. We could never do car washes becasue of the drought.
You know, I just bought some magazines from Dr.M.'s cousin and I don't even know why she was selling them. She's my favorite cousin and I needed to renew Vogue. I hope it was to benefit something other than her elementary school - it's the richest public school in the city.
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