Walk-A-Jog: It's Over

For an overview of this large Spring fundraiser, please click here. To learn how this fundraiser makes the big bucks, please click here.

Though I'm still fumbling around in a little bit of a post Walk-A-Jog stupor, I wanted to check in here to say that the event went off without a hitch. We haven't tallied our final take (the kids did not have to submit their sponsor money until today), but the preliminary numbers look good. I was remarkably close in estimating the money we would earn from our Silent Auction: I thought it would be $2,000, and it was...drum roll...$2,176. A few random notes about the day:

• Out of about 100 volunteers, only 2 failed to show and failed to call me. I think that's extraordinary, really.

• My little Volunteer Check-In desk turned into a general information booth, which makes me think...we should probably have a general information booth.

• I didn't work nearly as hard as the rest of the Committee. My co-horts were busting their busts at the food court, all around the carnival, working the course, and whatnot. I, meanwhile, sat in one spot checking folks in. SCORE! To assuage my guilt, I put in a solid chunk of time during set-up and clean-up.

• A cursory look at a few of the kids' sponsor envelopes reveals some crazy dollar amounts. One first grader earned $1,000! I just averaged the amount in the first 22 envelopes I grabbed, and it was $51. So we're feeling good about that revenue stream.

• We really need to ix-nay the cotton candy machines. Look at this poor volunteer (a kind-hearted, hardworking soul from a local high school). Click on the image to get a better look at his predicament:


Hahahahahahahaha! Seriously, who is going to want to do that next year? I say we double the snow cone machines instead.

• Things still left to do: order banner (showcasing our family and business sponsors), have our post-mortem, tally up the course cards to determine prizewinners, count the ducats.

In a few days I'll have a revenue report for you.

Walk-A-Jog: Class Baskets

For an overview of this large Spring fundraiser, please click here. To learn how this fundraiser rakes in the moolah, please click here.

As I mentioned in a previous post, the baskets created by each class (and coordinated by individual Room Parents and teachers) will be the sole silent auction items at this year's Walk-A-Jog. I thought it might be helpful to list the baskets that are being planned. All items must be brought to our Official Basket Prettifier on May 9th:

1) Backyard Adventure Basket (bug books, magnifying glass, butterfly net, bug catcher flashlight, trowel, small shovel, etc.)
2) Something's Fishy Basket (fish books, fish food, Nemo DVD, Petco gift certificate, etc.)
3) Summer Reading Basket (fish chair, bucket/shovel, art supplies, books, etc.)
4) Summer Fun Basket (books, outdoor activities, sunscreen, etc.)
5) Stargazer Basket (astronomy-related fun stuff)
6) Math & Science Basket O' Fun (school logo gear, microscope, experiments, math games, etc.)
7) BBQ Basket (cookbooks, sauces, tools, rubs, personalized apron)
8) Life's A Beach (towels, lotion, frisbees, etc)
9) Middle School Survival Basket (um, not sure what's in this one!)
10) Family Game Night Basket (card games, board games, etc.)

I won't know for sure until we have everything in-hand, but I'm guesstimating that we will request minimum bids of anywhere from $75 to $100 on these beauties. And there will be twenty baskets in all, so we'll raise a nice chunk of money just in this one small area.

As I write, the budget cut crisis continues. Tomorrow, a dad from school is hosting an on-campus parent meeting. The goal is to get us organized for our upcoming school district meetings, as well as with a meeting with Senator Leland Yee that's scheduled for early May.

Hmmm. Maybe I should raise those minimum bids...

Walk-a-Jog: Communicating with Teachers & Staff

Keeping teachers and staff in the loop on any fundraiser is critical to your success. When you communicate effectively, respectfully, and with that brand of enthusiasm (read: wild-eyed and slightly disheveled) unique to parent volunteers around the country, you exponentially increase your chances of victory.

With that in mind, I delivered a memo to each teacher's mailbox asking them to work with their Room Parents and students to create a Class Basket for the silent auction (I backed this up with an e-mail to Room Parents asking them to work with their teachers. OMG, I'm evah so clevah!). I also asked them to let us know what their "Teacher-riffic Time" raffle contribution would be, i.e. lunch, bowling, craft time, movie, etc. with a student.

It's was important, too, to check in with our School Secretary to ensure that she contacts the school district so that our campus is prepped for the event. In other words, no watering the grass for two weeks prior, red flags to indicate sprinklers, and no pesticide spraying!

Meanwhile, other Walk-A-Jog team members are meeting with the city, obtaining insurance, notifying all neighbors who will be affected by the course set-up, ordering t-shirts, finding family and business sponsors, and more. Way more.

Walk-A-Jog: Beating the Bushes For Volunteers

For an overview of this large Spring fundraiser, please click here. To learn how this fundraiser makes the big bucks, please click here.

Tomorrow I take the long march around campus posting volunteer sign-up sheets outside each classroom door. This should work out fine for Kindergarten - 2nd grade because parents with kids in those grades still hang abooot. The 3rd-5th grade parents will never see the sheets, of course, so in a few days I will have to devise another way to reel them in (when the bright idea hits, I'll make sure to let you know).

I'm going to make a prediction: each sheet has space for 22 people to sign up. By the end of next week, the average number of volunteers signed up per sheet will be...3.

I'm not sure exactly how many volunteers we need, but 3 per class ain't it. So in a few weeks I will need to send out a gentle reminder to everyone about the volunteer commitment pledge they signed at the beginning of the year. And I'll ask for support from our trusty brigade of Room Parents. If that's not enough, I'll hit the phones (probably my least favorite thing EVER).

The sheets include these volunteer spots:

1) Event Set-Up
2) Course Safety Monitors
3) Carnival Games
4) Face Painting & Tattoos
5) Food Server
6) Jumpy Monitor
7) Take Down

This doesn't take into account the volunteers needed for the silent auction and raffle or the cakewalk, as the folks in charge of those will do their own recruiting.

If it sounds like I don't quite know what I'm doing: you're right! I've never coordinated the volunteer effort for this event, and I'm going to make plenty of mistakes. Feel free to laugh and point...

Walk-A-Jog: How We Make Money

For an overview of this large Spring fundraiser, please see my previous post.***

How do we make money at Walk-A-Jog? Let me count the ways:

1. Sponsors I. We solicit family sponsorships, which are basically straight donations with two small perks: the family name or child's name also appears on the official Walk-A-Jog t-shirt and the event banner. Plus you get to show off your school spirit. Business sponsors receive excellent advertising at a great price, plus they receive community props for supporting public education. Last year, Smalltown was one of our featured business sponsors.

2.Sponsors II. The kids are responsible for asking their friends, family, and neighbors to support their morning of walking/jogging around the course. Participation isn't required, by the way, since strong-arm techniques would kinda defeat the purpose of, you know, an actually FUN day.

3. Silent Auction. Room parents and teachers work together with the kids to create gift baskets or special items to be auctioned off at the event. Baskets filled with students' favorite books, along with bookmarks that explain their choice; arts and crafts baskets; the ever-popular "thumbprint" flower pot filled with gardening tools; and many other types are bid on aggressively by parents.

4. Raffle. Every teacher comes up with an idea for spending some fun off-campus time with the raffle winners. An afternoon of arts and crafts, for example, lunch at the teacher's favorite restaurant, bowling, even manicures!

5. Admission. Families must purchase "bracelets" for entry into the carnival. We offer a sibling discount and, in the past, have created a fund to help pay for anyone who requests it. For the price of admission, kids can enjoy the carnival games, jumpy obstacles, cakewalk (limit 2 cakes per kid!), tattoos, facepainting, and more.

6. Food. Um, I believe this one is self-explanatory.

I think that covers it. As you can tell from this list, Walk-A-Jog requires a boatload of volunteers. I'll talk about how we round 'em up in my next post. Meanwhile, here's one to put in your "fundraiser DON'T" file (please note that this is in no way a judgement on Senator McCain; it's just the best link I could find to the story):

Do not, under any circumstances, hold a slave auction to raise money.

So sick.



***Speaking of my previous post, I noticed I referred to Walk-A-Jog as "ancient," but that I claim this blog is for the modern parent. What can I say? As Whitman put it, "I contain multitudes." *rolls eyes*

Spring Fundraiser: Walk-A-Jog

"Walk-A-Jog" is our ancient (I'm serious—it's 25 years old or something), tried-n-true Spring fundraiser. It has two components:

1) Fitness. The kids walk and/or jog around the streets surrounding the school, breaking a sweat and racking up tally marks at stations manned by teachers. We work with the city to close the streets for 90 minutes, and the course is monitored by parents. Also, to avoid dramatic fainting moments, we keep plenty of water on hand.

2) Madness. To reward them for their physical exertion, the kids are treated to a pared down version of a carnival. It features simple carnival games and "jumpy"-type obstacle courses (for the past few years we've rented these from Astro Events, which has offices around the country); a cakewalk; tattoos and face painting; healthy food and not-so-healthy food (translation: snow cones and cotton candy); and music.

In addition, we have a silent auction featuring gift baskets created by each class, as well as a raffle that nets each winner an off-campus treat with his/her teacher (usually lunch, a trip to the library, etc.).

As you might have guessed by now, this is a large undertaking that requires enough planning and volunteer power to send you straight to the Tylenol bottle. But the payoff is worth it: this is our second most lucrative fundraiser of the year. In my next post, I'll fill you in on the multiple income streams this event offers.

P.S. Okay, I know I said we serve some "not-so-healthy food," but I want it known throughout the land that we NEVER push it this far:

Not that we haven't secretly wanted to...