Boosterthon Fun Run

Fundraisers and the telemarketers who call right around dinner time rate about the same in my book.

We are in the midst of Girl Scout cookie season. This is Rachel's fifth year participating in Girl Scouts and her fourth to sell cookies. She started out in Girl Scouts as a Daisy and at that time Daisies did not sell cookies. I don't know if they do now or not. Girl Scouts is a wonderful organization and Rachel has loved it. But I have always dreaded her coming home with her cookie brochure. We have not lived near family since we have had kids so asking the grandparents to buy cookies really isn't that easy. I feel that if I solicit my friends to support a fundraiser one of my kids is participating in then I need to support their child when it is their turn. That doesn't work out well if I don't really need $10.00 wrapping paper.

While living in Indiana we did walk around the circle behind our house and knock on a few doors during cookie season. There were a lot of retired people who had bought homes in that area. Here we do not know any of our neighbors and many of them are renters. I am not in the financial position to get stuck paying for 50 extra boxes of cookies. Since P.K. works at a prison, he is not really in a position to do sells at work. Now we are scheduling booth sales. When you come out of WalMart and see the happy Girl Scouts trying to sell cookies...booth sale. Rachel's leaders this year are very serious about cookie sales. P.K. and I bought a few boxes. They are good cookies. However, if you know me well you know that I am always thinking about loosing weight and having extra Girl Scout cookies stashed throughout my house is not helpful in that area. One of the leaders sent out a very harsh email condemning parents for not signing up for more booth sales. I told Rachel's leader up front that we would not sell a lot of cookies, but that I would not mind giving her cash toward supplies or another need as it arises.

The school just finished another fundraiser. It was called the Boosterthon Fun Run and the whole thing was run by an outside company. They came in and did pep rallies for the kids. They set up a mini track the day of the run and incorporated teaching geography and character values into the fundraising process. The way this fundraiser worked was that the kids were to get pledges per lap they would run the day of the Fun Run. There was a cap of 35 laps. The suggested minimum pledge per lap was one dollar. I have two kids. That could have potentially cost my $70! They could also collect flat pledges which is where someone doesn't want to pledge per lap but just gives a set amount. That is what P.K. and I did. I let the kids call my mom and ask her as well. She also gave them each a flat amount. They wanted to call their other grandparents and one of their aunts, but I just couldn't let the craziness go on.

The kids were encouraged to get pledges from all fifty states. What a fun way to incorporate geography. Of course the last day they were down to four states and had I known someone in one of those states, I probably would have called and asked for a donation so the kids could mark off that last state. Just what the company wants to happen.

The day of the actual run, parents were invited to attend. It was actually a lot of fun. The three guys who had been encouraging the kids through the entire fundraiser were there to cheer them on. There was fun music. The kids were told up front that it was o.k. to walk. During the run they had certain laps that were designated non running such as skip a lap and swim a lap. They played the limbo and had the parents stick their hands out as the limbo stick.

That is Aaron in the red gloves. It was a very cold and windy day for this area. He is holding his cup of water. There was a water station set up and the kids were encouraged to get a drink about every five laps. As each class came to the course they ran through the blue and red blow up tunnel and they were announced by the name the class had come up with. Aaron's class were the Mack Daddies.

If you look at the back of Aaron's shirt you can see a circle. It was divided into sections and numbered to 35 which was the maximum number of laps each child could get pledges for. The teachers formed a line at the starting line and were armed with sharpies. As each child came around they were given a mark on a lap. I thought that was a great way to keep track of how many laps they ran and they had a souvenir.

Here's a shot of Rachel working hard. She completed 31 laps and Aaron completed all 35. I was really impressed with how hard all the kids worked. None of them were complaining that they were tired or it was too long. They really were smiling and having fun.

When I was in school I hate P.E. I was not (still am not) an athlete and I thought it was humiliating to have to play basketball or some other sport that I was awful at. Running the track was torture. I could never keep up. But had someone told me that walking the track was great exercise, I would have willing done it every day. I would love to see something like this implemented as a regular P.E. program in schools. (Not the fundraising part. The fun part.)

The school made over $20,000 with this fundraiser. That was after the company took 45 percent as their profit. I still don't like fundraisers, but I sure do wish I would have come up with this idea.