Here is a picture to accompany my post. It is unrelated...I am the first to admit that I am not very good at blogging. It is probably the perfectionist side of me (small side). I just feel like I can't "post" until I really have something to say or show. So last night as Brady and I were getting all riled up about school fund raising I decided that I could do a blog post about my frustrations. A warning, this is unorganized and rushed.
I am all for raising money for the school and understand that it is necessary. This year our school is raising money to buy more technology (smart boards anyone?) beautify the grounds outside the mobile trailer classrooms (yes they are staying) and to create an outdoor science lab (cool!). We have fun at the school carnival, spaghetti dinners, bingo nights, etc. Selling boxes of frozen cookies for $15 a pop? Not so into that.
Allow me to rant for a moment. I don't even mind selling (buying) cookies. Heck I bought 4 boxes last year and they were pretty good. The problem I have is that they worked the kids into a frenzy about selling, selling, selling. The kids came home totally excited about a limo ride to lunch. What?! Evidently if they sell 15 "units" (translate $225 worth of frozen cookies) they earn a limo ride to lunch. They had an assembly to explain the fund raising and the kids went wild when they told them that they could earn a limo ride to lunch (I'm picturing an elementary school version of the car episode on Oprah).
Brady and I are wondering how much of the $15 "unit" actually goes back to the school. Our neighborhood is full of elementary school students all selling cookies. I'm not sure how we will sell 30 boxes so my kids can ride in the limo. We want to ask how much of the cookie sale actually goes to the school, write a check for 15 times that amount and see if our kids can get the limo ride that way.
Maybe I am a grouch (well I know I am), maybe I am depriving my kids of important (selling) skills, but I am not a fan of adults trying to sell me stuff that I don't need and I am not a fan of kids selling expensive cookies either (isn't obesity a problem people?). It might be different if it was $1 candy bars or if the kids weren't manipulated using methods usually reserved for time-share sales people.
How much does it cost to rent a limo for lunch anyway?
All I can say is that this fundraising company is probably getting rich off of our school. Plus, they didn't even explain the logistics of the limo ride. For real, are they going to come to the school and take the kids to McDonald's in a limo? That is what the kids think. They are already planning where to go and who gets to get in first etc.
I'll send my email to the fundraising coordinator and let you know....no, I'm not calling the news.
PS: Let me know if you would like to purchase a box of frozen, pre-formed cookies, they actually are pretty good and easy to bake! (no, this is not some reverse psychology method of me selling the most amount of cookies by pretending that I hate it, I still hate it!)
