Comments (1)

By Mom Unplugged, February 2, 2010 11:51 am

$1,350.03

That’s how much a class of thirteen 6 to 9 year-olds raised for

Partners in Health’s Haiti relief fund

with a simple Book & Bake Sale!

If they can do it, you can do it too!

How they did it:

Two weeks ahead of time:

• They hung a sign on the school door asking for donations of books and baked goods for our Haiti fundraiser.
• They placed an empty box in the school entryway for collecting the books.
• They also put a sealed box in the lobby for any impromptu donations.

Day before, set-up:

• The day before the sale they accepted baked goods.
• After school they sorted the books into children and adult piles.
• They organized the children’s books into separate boxes and baskets based on level (picture books, readers, chapter books).
• Everything was set up on tables in our tiny school entryway with a simple pricing system posted.

The Sale:

• The morning of the sale, they set up the baked goods outside the door on a table (it was so cold and snowy that there was no danger of spoilage!).
• The school is on a side street, so they put out a sign on the main road nearby.  They also put signs in the grocery store and the library.  All signs said clearly that proceeds would be for Haiti.
• The sealed box went to a prominent location on the book table, with a basket nearby with a few small bills and coins for making change.
• They hung a Haitian flag and also posted some information about Partners in Health so any interested people could read more about where their money would be going.

Post-Sale:

• I helped them sort through the leftover books and we separated the ones that were fairly recent and looked pretty new.
• We took these “good” leftovers to our local bookstore so the owner could buy any that would work for her used book section. She ended up buying almost all of them, and even gave us more than her normal cash price since we were doing this for Haiti!  (Be sure to let a bookstore know that you are selling for Haiti)
• The kids packed up the other books and we put them in storage for our annual school yard sale.

Counting:

• Practical math lesson:  The children counted the cash and were SO excited, especially when they found a $100 bill in the box!
• Their teacher counted the checks for privacy reasons (NOTE:  For ease of accounting, we made sure people made their checks out directly to Partners in Health and not to our school).
• I took the cash to the bank and traded it in for a cashiers check made out to Partners in Health.

And voilà!  Not a whole lot of effort really, but now we have a nice donation to send off to Partners in Health and the kids feel GREAT!

Why not try it with your school?

For more fundraising ideas, please read Help Your Kids Help Haiti.

Comments (2)

By Mom Unplugged, January 26, 2010 12:32 pm

Do your kids have questions about Haiti and the relief effort there?  Do they want to know more about how to mobilize their schools and communities to help?

Then they might be interested in participating in (or even just watching) an online discussion tonight with Dr. Jim Yong Kim, physician, president of Dartmouth College, and one of the founders of Partners in Health (PIH), a leading aid organization in Haiti.

My good friend (and the most well-informed person I know) Wishy,  just let me know about this great opportunity for students of all ages (elementary through grad school).  It will take place tonight at 5:30 PM Eastern Standard Time.

Students can even send in questions ahead of time by email to sdhr at dartmouth dot edu. The subject line should contain the words: “JYK TALK: Your name, your school”.

The talk will happen via live online video stream at the PIH website:

5:30 PM Eastern Standard Time

LIVE VIDEO STREAM LINK

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PS.  Our “Book and Bake Bonanza for Haiti” is scheduled for this Thursday.  I’ll let you all know how it goes!  If you are interested in some ideas on how to get your kids involved raising money for Haiti, please read my post:  Help Your Kids Help Haiti.

Comments (16)

By Mom Unplugged, January 15, 2010 5:12 pm

My children’s elementary class is organizing an emergency “Book and Bake Bonanza” to take place next week.  They are frantically trying to collect books and baked goods to sell in order to raise money for Haiti.  Obviously money is needed NOW, so they must act quickly and there is no time for an elaborate fundraiser.

Will used books sell?  We don’t know, but we need to try something and one of the kids came up with the idea.  Anything we can earn will help, no matter how small.

(UPDATE:  The result of our little fundraiser?  A whopping $1,350.03!!  Read here for more details about how we did it.)

Why not organize a speedy fundraiser for your children’s school?  If you homeschool, then combine a quick study of Haiti with a smaller scale family-style fundraiser.

Here are some quick and easy fundraising ideas:

• Bake sale
• Lemonade or hot chocolate or cookie stand in your driveway
• Garage Sale (if you can put it together fast, yard sales can be very time consuming)
• Used book sale
• Raffle something off
• Car wash (or an interior car detailing day if it is too cold for a car wash, or you don’t want to use water)
• A simple donation box in your school or workplace
• A penny drive in your children’s school (Thanks very much to Jen for this simple yet effective idea!)

And here are a few less obvious ones that could possibly be put together fairly rapidly:

• Board Game Competition:  Charge an entry fee for each team or individual.  If you want, give a small portion of this as a prize, or give a donated prize.
• Dog Wash (if you can do it indoors or you live somewhere warm).
• How Many in the Jar?:  Fill a jar with M&Ms, marbles, rocks, anything small!  Have people guess how many objects are in the jar.  Sell guess forms for $1 or $2 a piece and split the earnings with the person who gets the closest.
• Show Up in Your Jammies Day:  (For schools) Sell tickets entitling the purchaser  to wear your pajamas to school for a day.  Encourage teachers and administrators to join in also.  Sell donuts and bagels before school for breakfast.
• Traveling Hobo Band:  I can’t really explain this one, but it is pretty funny and spontaneous.  Read more here.
• Windshield Washing

Who to give to?

The NPR website published a list of aid organizations that are helping Haiti during this disaster.

• Partners in Health (co-founded by Dr. Paul Farmer) is one I only recently learned about via my friend Wishy.  PIH has been extremely involved in Haitian health care and social justice for over 20 years.
• I have also always greatly admired the amazing Doctors Without Borders.
• Do your homework.  You can always check out any charity before you donate on CharityNavigator.org and NetworkForGood.org.

Remember, even a small amount of money can make a big difference!

IMPORTANT NOTE:

Don’t underestimate the power of even a simple bake sale. In December, my children’s Montessori School class raised over $870 for Heifer International with a one day bake sale!

Comments (3)

By Mom Unplugged, January 31, 2009 6:22 pm

A big thank you to Lisa of Over the Crescent Moon for informing me that yesterday, the Consumer Protection Safety Commission (CPSC) unanimously voted to delay enforcement of certain testing and certification requirements.

The new requirements were scheduled to take effect on February 10, 2009 but enforcement will now be delayed for one year (February 10, 2010).  This will give the CPSC time to finalize four proposed rules which could exempt certain products from testing and provide more guidance on when testing would be required.

From the press release:

The stay of enforcement provides some temporary, limited relief to the crafters, children’s garment manufacturers and toy makers who had been subject to the testing and certification required under the CPSIA. These businesses will not need to issue certificates based on testing of their products until additional decisions are issued by the Commission. However, all businesses, including, but not limited to, handmade toy and apparel makers, crafters and home-based small businesses, must still be sure that their products conform to all safety standards and similar requirements, including the lead and phthalates provisions of the CPSIA.

Hooray!  This issue is not over yet, but at least Etsy and quality handmade and foreign toys have one more year of life.  It seems as though the vocal public outrage has produced a step in the right direction.

Thanks to all who let their voices be heard!!

Let’s hope that the CPSC will stay on this more reasonable path and narrow down the overly broad Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA).

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LINKS:

Here is a link to the full text of the press release:

CPSC Grants One Year Stay of Testing and Certification Requirements for Certain Products (from the CPSC website)

And the full text of the CPSIA is here.

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Comments (2)

By Mom Unplugged, January 30, 2009 8:38 pm

Perhaps my favorite place in the whole world is the South Island of New Zealand.  If you live there, I SO envy you!  What a beautiful place filled with nice people…I can’t say enough wonderful things about it.  The only drawback is that, for most of us in the world, it is a little out of the way.  No, make that VERY MUCH out of the way!  Upon further thought however, perhaps that is what keeps it so lovely and friendly?

Anyhow, I was once fortunate enough to be able to visit New Zealand’s South Island.  I believe it was in May and the leaves were turning color.  There was a fall chill in the air…strange, since we had just left tree buds exploding with flowers and greenery emerging from the sun’s warmth – a promise of lazy summer days was near.

We had many remarkable adventures in southern New Zealand as we explored the glacial and fjord-laden, yet lush, west coast; viewed spectacular snowy mountainscapes of the central region; and enjoyed sheep (many, many, MANY sheep) grazing on peaceful green hills in the eastern portion.

One of the most interesting places that we visited was the Royal Albatross Centre in Dunedin. Before the visit, I really new very little about these amazing birds, except that according to old sailing lore, it was considered bad luck to see one. Wasn’t an albatross involved in Edgar Allan Poe’s novel,  The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym?

• WEBCAM – I was quite excited to discover a live webcam from Dunedin’s Royal Albatross Center.  I found this quite some time ago and have been meaning to write about it.  At the moment, it seems to be showing just a general view of the colony since eggs are still incubating.  However when there are chicks, it is a nest cam!  Remember, that since it is live, you might find it is dark when you go to check it out due to the time difference.  Keep going back, it is worth it.

• TRACKING – There are quite a few sites out there that show tracking results for albatross that have been fitted with satellite trackers:

Seaturtle.org (2004 data)

2008 Black-Footed Albatross “race”: Check out these amazing results for “the 2008 winner” named Oski.  In the 64 days (s)he was tracked, (s)he traveled a curved path totaling 19,571 km (a straight line distance of 4,943 km) at an average rate of 305 km/day!

The Hawaii Study:  Has a good teaching/classroom component.

• ADOPTION – If your family or class has the means (or wants to do a few fundraisers), you can even adopt your own albatross.  The cost ($2,500 in 2008) covers the tracking tag and three months of data.  You can choose the name of your bird and follow him/her in real time through online maps.  Cool!  The non-profit sponsor, Oikonos, will also send you a framed photo of your actual bird as well as a map of the completed three month journey.

• TEACHING – Good classroom tools here.

Oikonos also offers free, downloadable classroom tools about the effects of trash and debris on marine birds.

The Albatross Project

• VIDEOS – The Internet Bird Collection These videos are amazing!

If you do nothing else, watch (and show your kids) this gorgeous video of albatrosses soaring over the ocean, and “playing” in the wind. It is such a beautiful sight that it actually made me cry! Please watch it!

OK, now that you have been moved to tears by these beautiful birds, how about trying to save them? Here are some organizations that would like some help (fundraiser anyone?):

• GIVING – Organizations that aim to protect the albatross from long-line fishing and ocean trash:

Oikonos

Save the Albatross

Birds Australia

I don’t homeschool, but if I did, I would somehow work in an albatross unit despite the fact that I live in Arizona!  I hope that these resources will inspire somebody somewhere.

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PHOTO CREDITS:  Thank you Wikimedia Commons!  For photo credits and licensing information, click on these links:  Squabbling Albatrosses and Soaring Albatross.

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