Patrick Henry junior class ASB president Devin Chubb (Zoom)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\u201cThat one has done pretty well so far, we\u2019ve got like $400 and we still got a month to go,\u201d Chubb said, adding that there is also now an online merchandise store that raises money for all of Henry\u2019s classes. \u201cSo everything is just switched now, geared to all online since we can\u2019t really do anything at all in-person.\u201d<\/p>\n
The online fundraisers help, but will unlikely make up for the kind of money an in-person event like Winter Formal brings in.<\/p>\n
\u201cWinter Formal is generally a pretty big fundraiser,\u201d said ASB advisor Autumn Flores, adding that the annual dance held in the early months of the spring semester usually raises between $5,000 and $10,000, depending on the size of the junior class.<\/p>\n
Also missing from the junior class fundraising are the weekly frozen yogurt sales and on-campus T-shirt sales, which by this time of year would have raised around $2,000. Still, Flores commended Chubb\u2019s initiative, especially since other classes are even further behind in the fundraising they normally see by this time of year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe junior class has been kind of an outlier in that Devin has been incredibly motivated \u2014 not that my other officers aren\u2019t motivated, they are \u2014 but he\u2019s been very big on fundraisers,\u201d Flores said.<\/p>\n
Patrick Henry\u2019s senior class is the most behind because it has lost not only its on-campus T-shirt sales and frozen yogurt sales, it has also lost one of its main funding sources \u2014 the annual Senior Alley where seniors purchase parking spaces they can paint and personalize.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s also a pretty big revenue generator for our senior class, usually between $8,000 and $10,000 from that particular fundraiser,\u201d Flores said, adding that all these kinds of fundraisers go toward making prom night and other graduation events affordable for all of Henry\u2019s students. \u201cLast year, had we had prom, their tickets would have been $3 or, at most, $5.\u201d<\/p>\n
So how will senior prom and other grad events be funded when those events are allowed to continue? The short answer is there is no answer yet.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have a feeling that some of the things that we might look could mean there may be a year where things are done more modestly,\u201d Flores said. \u201cNormally, we\u2019d have prom at a hotel or a venue. We might be looking at old school hosting our prom in the middle of our quad with outside lights and creating our own venue here.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be honest, my seniors probably wouldn\u2019t care as long as they got a prom, but those are the kinds of concession we might be looking at,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, Chubb and his fellow ASB officers are doing what they can in promoting their online fundraisers through alumni social media pages and whatever else will help them get the word out.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow with [our fundraising] being all online and these companies ship all over the country, I\u2019ve gotten some sales from like Texas, Maine \u2014 all over,\u201d he said, adding that the best way to support his and all the other classes at Henry is by following the school\u2019s ASB Instagram page \u2014 @pathenryasb \u2014 which lists all current events and fundraisers.<\/p>\n
Mixed successes<\/strong><\/p>\nHigh school associated students aren\u2019t the only groups that have had to make changes in fundraising during the pandemic. PTAs from middle and elementary schools are also replacing their in-person fundraisers with online ones.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe lost potential major funding from our biggest fundraiser of the entire year because most of it is straight up profit,\u201d said Hardy Elementary School principal Laura Alluin. \u201cWe have a large Jog-a-thon scheduled in March or April and that\u2019s our largest fundraiser of the entire school year. Obviously we weren\u2019t able to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although Hardy didn\u2019t hold a fundraiser last spring to replace Jog-a-thon, it didn\u2019t really need to because those funds are usually used for school activities like field trips, which were cancelled.<\/p>\n
Hardy was also able to carry on with other fundraisers it usually holds \u2014 although now moved online \u2014 with mixed success. The school continued its Family Dining Days that partners with local restaurants \u2014 Corbin\u2019s Q, Woodstock\u2019s Pizza, Chipotle, etc. \u2014 that offer a percentage of a night\u2019s sales to the school. The Dining Days had varying degrees of success as restaurants at different times could only offer pick-up and not in-person dining.<\/p>\n
The Hardy Dads Club also carried on its usual Christmas tree and greenery sales, with online ordering and payment for the first time.<\/p>\n
\u201cI heard it was not as successful as the past two years \u2014 there was a rock star family who was very successful who now graduated \u2014 but more profitable than the first two years we did it,\u201d Alluin said.<\/p>\n
What was successful for Hardy was the online Raise Craze event \u2014 a \u201ckindness-a-thon\u201d held as an experiment to replace Jog-a-thon.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe kids make pledges online saying, \u2018I\u2019m going to three acts of kindness.\u2019 \u2026 Then they advertised to their friends, families and neighbors and sent out the links that say, \u2018Will you pledge money for each act of kindness that I complete?\u2019 And then they had to go back and take photos and write explanations of the kinds of kindness that they did. And the money came rolling in,\u201d Alluin said. The school hit its goal of $5,000 in only two weeks and ended up with over $6,500. \u201cIt was a windfall for us and we had no idea how it was going to go.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although the Raize Craze brought in much needed funds for Hardy, there was one event that was cancelled where the loss was more than just money.<\/p>\n
In the fall, Hardy usually hosts a giant carnival in October that is open to the entire community that involved the Dads Club and other volunteers, including fraternities and sororities from SDSU.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a deep community connection event and, yes, we make some money, but we put so much money into it that it\u2019s not a huge profit for us,\u201d Alluin said, adding that though the carnival usually raises only about $2,000, the intangibles like new students\u2019 parents meeting the community and the PTA being able to meet and recruit them for membership or help was lost this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd it\u2019s just a fun tradition for us,\u201d she said. \u201cI was like surprisingly emotionally sad about the fact that we couldn\u2019t have it. There was this huge loss to not have it, even though when it\u2019s happening it\u2019s like a major stress and so much hard work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Future fundraising plans at Hardy include replacing Jog-a-thon with a Dance-a-thon that can be held socially-distanced with children dancing in hoops safely separated.<\/p>\n
Cuts to programs<\/strong><\/p>\nNot every school has seen the successes that Hardy had with its Raize Craze event. At Phoebe Hearst Elementary, a Move-a-thon event to replace its own Jog-a-thon has so far only raised $32,000 of its $50,000 goal, said Phoebe Hearst PTA president Amara Berg. The PTA extended the end date to the fundraiser in hopes of getting a few additional donations.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt looks like we\u2019ll be ending that fundraiser at about 57% of our goal. We were able to adjust the net amount and cut some costs that would have normally been associated with running the event which we didn\u2019t have this year so that helped our bottom line,\u201d Berg said.<\/p>\n
Even with cutting down some overhead costs of holding the Jog-a-thon event, the deficit in funds raised has meant cuts to programs at Phoebe Hearst.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have already cut some items from our budget such as reducing teacher mini-grants, which is money the teachers can use to buy much needed school supplies,\u201d Berg said. \u201cWe\u2019re hoping to keep most of our remaining items such as ArtCorps which is an interactive art program for kids. As of now, those items will stay and we will be rolling over less than the desired for next year, but still meeting our minimum goal.\u201d<\/p>\n
The school still has other fundraising opportunities for the year including Dine-in events (which Berg pointed out will likely be \u201cdine-outs\u201d) that are similar to Hardy\u2019s Family Dining Days; and a box tops fundraiser where students collect tops of cereal boxes for rebate money from cereal companies.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re hopeful we can meet our goals on those or we may have to look at more cuts in the spring,\u201d Berg added.<\/p>\n
And like Hardy, the lack of events is not just about money for the schools.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a rough time for PTA, and fundraising efforts in general, as we don\u2019t get the same face to face time with parents we normally do \u2014 that social interaction is everything and it also helps parents and kids feel more connected,\u201d Berg said. \u201cWe did host some non-official off campus events at Lake Murray, but it\u2019s not the same as greeting parents at the gates when they drop off kids and speaking to them in person at the rallies.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite the challenges brought on by the pandemic, Berg said she is \u201cextremely proud\u201d of her PTA team this year that was able to still provide an \u201cawesome fall\u201d for Phoebe Hearst students.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe held a Pumpkin Carving contest; the school foundation held a Halloween Parade, and we consistently showed up for supply drop offs and every chance we could get to see our parents and students,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
And although fundraising for these special events and programs is important, Berg pointed out that it is not the most important issue schools, students and parents are facing right now.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs the PTA president, I can tell you I\u2019ve received a lot of notes and calls from parents eager to get their kids back to school and concerned with the timeline of that possibility. Not one of them has been concerned about our low fundraising,\u201d she said. \u201cI don\u2019t think raising money for the school is high on parents minds right now, but instead they just want their kids back in school. Sadly, I can\u2019t give them the answers they want because I\u2019m in the same boat they are.\u201d<\/p>\n
- Comun\u00edquese con el editor Jeff Clemetson en jeff@sdnews.com<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By JEFF CLEMETSON | Mission Times Courier Even in the best of times, funding for needs and programs of schools is largely inadequate \u2014 so much so that the idea of holding a bake sale to make up for the needs not addressed in municipal budgets has become proverbial. And now with a pandemic that […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":778,"featured_media":232158,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11558","_seopress_titles_title":"School groups face fundraising woes","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11558,11551,11550],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-232157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mission-times-courier","category-news","category-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/778"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232157"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232157\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/232158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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