In my house, we do not do fund raisers. Period! In fact the moment the stuff comes in to the house, it makes tracks right back out and to the trash can. The problem is, is who do you sell to? I live in a big city and every school in the district is doing the same fund raiser at the same time. Kids are told not to go door to door but to sell to friends and family. I don't have a lot of family in this town, and most of my friends are in the same boat with kids in school and selling the same thing. Also dh isn't allowed to sell the stuff on company time or company property. Obviously his company got tired of the schools fund raisers too. And my circle of co-workers are all moms again selling the same things. What really hacks me off is when they try to entice the kids into selling by showing them all these grand and wonderful prizes they can win. First off since the parents seem to do more selling than the kids it only seems fair that they change the prizes to be more adult oriented. But I really question how much more money the school could make if the prizes were eliminated, or even if the prices of the junk being sold could be reduced. Those prizes have to be purchased somewhere. But I also get upset b/c our schools do these fund raisers about 4-6 times a year.

Whatever happpened to the fund raisers in which the school got 100% of the money they raised? Back when I was a kid, my school sent home the book orders a few times a year and you ordered books. In return the school supplied their library through those orders by getting so many $ to spend on books based on how many orders were submitted. That was the only fund raiser done outside the schools creativity. Otherwise our fund raisers were a school carnival, everything donated, dinners, again everything donated, white elephant sales (garage sales), silent auctions, etc. Our PTA worked hard to put on these fund raisers and put a lot of time and effort into contacting and soliciting businesses for donations. And the kids were expected to help out and gladly did so. We always raised the money needed and we did it without going door to door or nickle and diming the he!! out of friendships. We also got 100% of the money raised and not just 40-50 cents of every dollar.

Of course I'm also the one screaming at what in the world is the school raising money for now. And where in the world did the $2000 just go that I payed in property taxes. Obviously not for school supplies which I have to purchase, and not for field trips, which again I have to pay for. Can't be for the teachers salary and if it is I want them fired b/c they are sending home more hours of homework home with my child than time they spend teaching , while they hide out in the teachers lounge and soak up 3 hours of plannng periods and lunch. Can't be for new playground equipment b/c even though the old is 10 years old, recess was elimanated from the school day. Can't be for class parties, b/c that is all donated by room parents. Oh wait, this just in......money made from dd's current school fund raiser is going to purchase new furniture and a window AC for the teachers lounge so that while the teachers hide out from the kids, they can do so in style and comfort. (Only about 1/2 our schools have AC throughout the entire building)

Sorry ladies to vent but fund raisers really hack me off! Especially when the kids don't reap any of the benefits of their hard work.

If and when my son gets those fundraisers I just bring them to work and pass it around. I have close to 100 or so people here that would buy stuff, especially when the holidays roll around.

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Alex & the spider monkey