Thursday, October 4, 2007

School Fundraisers

Should I be offended?

My daughters came home filled with entrepreneurial spirit the other day announcing that they were going to win all kinds of prizes by selling (or funraising) for their school. Apparently my tax dollars aren't enough or even an override (passed on in my town last year).

Okay, I do understand that fundraising is now part of my life with school age children. In the past I have sold softball raffle tickets and countless amounts of girl scout cookies (there is nothing better than a Caramel deLites when PMS is hitting , am I right?)

The folks that are running this program actually pulled my children out of class for 1 hour to teach them how to sell wrapping paper, magazines and chocolate.

1 HOUR?

Not only that, but they dangled these "wonderful" prizes in front of them for selling a certain amount of items. Now Cal, my little one would be ok with the glow in the dark pen she will get when she sells my dad $12.00 worth of Gourmet Chocolate Malted Milk Balls (otherwise known as Whoppers). But the older daughter has her eyes on a Glow in the Dark Frog Alarm Clock. The good news is, she only has to sell about 75 rolls of wrapping paper, chocolates or magazines...yeah sounds easy enough??

Obviously, she cannot go door to door to do this. We do have neighbors who we can safely call on to buy stuff from....if it weren't for the fact that their kids are also selling the same stuff...

So now I am guilting my coworkers and relatives to buy $12.00 Whoppers and Magazines...

I think what really offends me most is that they took my kids out of class to pressure sell them into selling....(and I get dirty looks when I bring them in late because of an orthodontist appointment.)

Am I wrong?

~T


"I'm gonna show you and everybody else that Willy Loman did not die in vain. He had a good dream. It's the only dream you can have - to come out number-one man. He fought it out here, and this is where I'm gonna win it for him."- Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman, Act 2

7 comments:

Sharon T. said...

You are not wrong. My kids school does the same thing, but then send home a note stating they do not wish the children to go door-to-door. I'm all for that...what I'm not all for is that it becomes my own personal fundraiser as I am the one doing all the selling so my child(ren) can win a prize worth $7.49. ARGH...now is that wrong?

Anonymous said...

It bothers me that it seems like the biggest beneficiary is the company selling the overpriced crap that is being used for the fundraising. Some of it is nice, but some of it is just outrageous.

It also bothers me that Trish has never asked me to purchase any of said crap! I talk to you 300 times a day!! I'm in for some wrapping paper.

Unknown said...

Oh, I hate to even get started on this subject! I would rather donate $5 to the school than pay $12 for the gourmet whoppers. The school would probably make more money that way anyway.

Dangling these piece of junk prizes in front of them infuriates me. Anything that my kids have "won" from these things has lasted for all of 30 seconds in my house.

Rhonda said...

Well, a woman after my own heart! I take the fundraising packets and toss them in the trash! Our schools have never pulled kids out of class, that would really raise the roof, however, we do have about 8 fundraisers a year!

Ugh!

I enjoy your blog!

Rhonda said...

...post note to mammawannabe
The said gift that most of those kids earn is worth no more than maybe, mayyyybe .99! Right?

Kris said...

Dana, My son sells the same "crap" that Trish's kids sell and this year I'm writing a check for $20...all 20 of it will go to the school. Then I will take him to the dollar store to buy 5 things (for a dollar each...) that will...yes...break on the car ride home the same way they would break on the bus ride home from school that same day.

www.laughtoomuch.com said...

You are soo0o0o not wrong. At the end of my son's FIRST WEEK of PreK, they already sent him home with a fundraising packet. I didnt want him to go door to door either so me and hubby bought 4 items. I was very irritated too.