Thursday, February 19, 2009

All proceeds will go to Charity

Caleb came home yesterday with a form for "Jumping Rope for Heart Disease". He really wanted to participate and asked if I would read it over and fill out the on-line form.
Upon reading it, I found that the company encourages the kids to sign-up on-line and send out pre-written letters asking people for donations to help fight heart disease. While of course I think funding research to fight any disease is a worthy cause, I did not feel comfortable with the fact that the minimum accepted on-line donation was $25. Really. I could feed the family for at least a few nights on $25.
You can also go door-to-door asking for donations. Again, I just don't really feel comfortable. We just finished peddling cub scout popcorn to all the neighbors. Is it really fair to hit them up again? I am thinking no.
I told Caleb that I didn't think he was going to be able to participate in the jump-a-thon, to which he replied, "But, Mom it's for hearts and stuff."
Suddenly, my son is passionate about heart disease. I am sure it has NOTHING to do with the 'prizes' you can earn by collecting donations.
He was positive that is was not about the prizes, he just really wanted to help.
I tried to explain the state of the economy and how I wanted to stay friendly with the neighbors, and was met with eye-rolling and deep sighs.
He said,"Mom, I am sure that people will want to help."
"You know," I said. "You are right. People will want to help. This is a good cause and I am glad to see you are so passionate about something other than playstation. Your birthday is just around the corner. Instead of asking for gifts, we will ask everyone to donate to the heart disease fighting cause."
"Mom, the jump-a-thon will be over. It will be too late."
"I am %100 certain that they will be happy with your donation no matter when they get it."
(At this point there was a stare-down, so he could try to asses my seriousness)
"I guess your right. It might not be fair to ask people for money right now."
The family and neighbors can thank me later.

5 comments:

  1. We just went through the school fundraiser and I ended up compromising with the children. The first option was to send out postcards to family/friends for magazine subscriptions. The second option was the door to door one. I did fill out 10 postcards for each child, but did not allow them to go door-to-door. I also sent a letter via email to the lucky family members explaining that their address was to be used only once for this purpose and that while any orders would benefit the school, they had helped the children participate just by accepting the postcards in the mail.

    My aunt called yesterday because she was so thrilled to get the postcards from my boys, but was actually hurt that she didn't get one from my daughter...who knew?

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  2. That is awesome! Very good handling of the situation. I am stressed by the constant fund-raising, although they haven't had minimum donations for anything yet. A has donated some of her Christmas money, and we've pitched in a few bucks here and there. Since our entire family and neighborhood has been supporting us financially since August, I really hate to ask them to buy magazines or chocolates.

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  3. Thanks for dropping by and commenting!! It seems like it's always something!!

    I agree that $25.00 is a lot to ask for as an initial donation. Even muscular dystrophy will take as low as $5.00!

    What a great compromise you reached! We do frequent donations to our local food bank and when my oldest heard that they were running low on tuna she said she wanted to collect tuna. We're going to do the same thing as you. Tuna in lieu of presents. Because that will ensure that she doesn't get another set of barbie clothes that includes a million little shoes and purses!

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  4. Look at you! I hope you gave yourself a star this time! We moms need our own star charts too.

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  5. Will you look at that? My comment worked. Its because I'm on my husband's computer I'm guessing.

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