School Fundraising–Producing Beggars for at Least 30 Years

Is anyone else really put off when they are attacked by an army of eight year olds in front of the grocery store trying to sell something for their school?  We were just talking about this yesterday after our weekly trip to the store.  Yesterday’s group of kids wasn’t even selling anything, they were just taking donations.

I despise this practice for so many reasons it actually warrants its own post, or several posts.  I have no doubt in my mind that public schools need more money.  After all, what gov’ment run project doesn’t?  How can our schools maintain their mediocre performance without more money?  Financing sports programs alone is insanely expensive, yet essential to providing an average education, right?

It gets better.  Our doorbell rang at 8:00 last night–a little girl selling overpriced stuff I don’t need for her school.  Well, a little of the money was for her school.  The rest was no doubt going to line the pockets of some guys in an MLM program.  Of course the little girl was super motivated by the plastic paddle game, or sticker book, or whatever it was she would get for being the top beggar salesperson in her class.

Or maybe not.  I told her if she wanted to come back the next day and ask the Missus, she may want to buy something.  No dice.  “This has to be turned in tomorrow.”

I at least admire her procrastination.  It reminds me of my elementary school days when I waited until the last minute to sell some insanely expensive junk to people.

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3 Replies to “School Fundraising–Producing Beggars for at Least 30 Years”

  1. Oh, I used to get so pissed off at that. When our kids were forced out on the street, we would give a donation and send the goods back to the school. But, as you figured, the real purpose of the candy (or whatever) sale is making some people rich. One of the biggest moguls in the candy for fundraising businesses happened to be from our little town. He coincidently happened to have been a school administrator, helping to run these fundraisers when he figured out where the real money is. He quit and started up his company and got very, very rich. We didn’t like the idea of candy for kids, what with obesity, tooth decay, and other unwanted side effects, so we didn’t want to spread more candy around the community. We also didn’t want our kids begging, as you pointed out. But, we wanted to support the schools, or at least be perceived as supporters. Hence, our wish to contribute. The problem is that a pure contribution doesn’t ring in the cash registers of the professional fundraisers, so it wasn’t appropriate. I don’t remember how it ultimately played out, but our kids didn’t have to beg. I think maybe that we had to buy the candy and we then gave it away in our workplaces. You might think of going to the school board about the issue, but the professional fundraisers are a powerful lobby.

  2. HM, I wonder if the schools don’t love it because it “proves” how underfunded they are. Seriously, if it’s that bad, why don’t we just wrap up all of the kids’ belongings in red bandanas, tie them to sticks and teach them how to hop trains and cook a can of beans over an open fire?

    That’s what real hobos do.

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