Fundraisers galore

It was inevitable. With the start of school comes the season of the fundraisers. It seems like every sports/music/school/extra-curricular participant is doing something to earn extra funding for their program. The hubby and I are getting hit up at work and home. Luckily, my department is small so I don’t receive that many solicitations. But being a high school teacher, hubby gets hit up pretty regularly by his students. He has a good system. He will buy one item from each fundraiser from the first student who asks him. And he will only buy from that same student once per year. His limits help keep spending in check but allows him to feel as though he’s supporting the cause.

The boys haven’t been excluded from the fun. Nicklas joined Scouts this year so he’s in the midst of selling popcorn. Of course, most fundraiser’s have prizes to reward those that excel with their door-to-door skills. Nicklas has his eyes set on a Nintendo DS which requires $2300 in sales. Although he’s up to $300, he has a long way to go! I’m hoping he can at least hit the $800 level and earn a free week of Boy Scouts Camp next summer.

Seeger’s preschool is also doing a fundraiser. They are selling rolls, strawberry jam, and apple butter from the Covington Beef House. Each item is $7. Benefits from this fundraiser will go toward new chairs and tables for their classrooms.

In addition to the popcorn and Beef House rolls, both boys are collecting alumni cans (Nicklas for Boy Scouts AND his classroom field trip and Seeger for preschool), used cell phones, Box Tops for Education, Campbell’s Soup can labels, and we have to shop at Marsh/Payless/Meijer/Target to earn credit for our school. Oh, and we have to eat at Triple XXX or Route 66 on September 30. Whew!

To top it all off, I’ve somehow become in charge of the fundraising committee for Nick’s school (it wasn’t intentional – honest – I agreed to be on the committee but then no one would get the ball rolling so I offered to host the first meeting and it all went downhill from there) and we’ve decided to organize a carnival/silent auction to raise money. Ironically, this was chosen in lieu of a fundraiser because everyone was tired of selling wrapping paper/chocolate/address books/magazine subscriptions.

You feel my pain, right? You can sympathize, right? Awesome… I’m now taking orders for popcorn and rolls. And if you have any aluminum cans, box tops, soup can labels, or used cell phones, let me know.