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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.

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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!

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By Mom Unplugged, October 30, 2009 9:45 pm

Get your Candy Bank ready, it’s Halloween tomorrow!

If you are unsure about what to do with an influx of massive amounts of candy into your house, then read on.

If your children are young (younger than maybe 4 or 5?) you can probably get away with the “Hide It and They’ll Forget About It” method.

If you have older children, take it from me, that will not work.  Either let them have it all in moderated doses (and “lose” a few bits here and there and hope they don’t notice), or try a Candy Bank.

We have a jar into which all extra candy is put (as well as any junky little toys that somehow show up).  We use it throughout the year for birthday party candy, but Halloween is where it really comes in useful.

Once the Candy Bank is full, the kids get money for charity in exchange for the candy.  The first time I did this, I let them each choose a small present in exchange for the candy.  Ever since then, I have given them $10.00 collectively to donate to a charity of their choice.

I like that it goes to charity (rather than just more junk to fill the house) and I also like that they must agree amongst themselves as to how the money will be applied.  I can only hope that this will encourage a lifetime of negotiation and cooperation!

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By Mom Unplugged, October 25, 2009 8:19 pm

This week’s post is a change from other Unplugged Project posts.  The theme for this week’s Unplugged Project was change.  We did lots of things this week that involve change, but no real sit down and do it kind of “project.”  None of these projects were planned around the theme, they just happened.

Change the world: On Thursday I took my oldest daughter and a few other children from her class to our local soup kitchen to help serve lunch and clean tables.  I am leading a community service workshop for our small Montessori school’s elementary class (6 to 9 year-olds).  If we want to change the world, we must start with the children.  More on this project later.

Small change (can change the world): Of their own initiative, my oldest daughter and two friends have formed a secret club called The Helping Hands Club (The HHC for those in the know!).  On Saturday they sold homemade chocolate chip cookies that they made (by themselves) and pumpkins (that they bought with their own money) to a few neighbors and made $21+ in small change for charity!  (Reminded me a bit of the great Heifer International Christmas ornament sale a few years ago.)

Change of seasons: It is fall in our part of the world and we walked together on this glorious fall day. The sky was blue, the fall colors vibrant, the air crisp yet comfortable. A fire is crackling in the fireplace now as I write this.

Changing the worm bin: Yes, the worms in our worm bin are still happily eating, reproducing, and pooping.  It was time to change the bedding and harvest the castings, so we did it today.  The kids love interacting with the worms.  We are trying a new harvesting method this time, more on that later if it works.

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If you did a change Unplugged Project, then please link to your POST not just your blog in the Linky below. If you did not join in, then do not link, but you can always read more here about how to participate in the Unplugged Project. We’d love to have you!

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The theme for next week’s Unplugged Project will be:

Smell

Have fun and be creative!

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