With school back in session and clubs and sports groups already engaged in a new season of activities, the inevitable is taking place: fundraising.
That means sales of chocolate bars and packaged almonds, gift calendars, cookie dough, bottle drives, mint-flavoured cookies and so much more.
Seven years ago, in the autumn of 2016 I wrote a column about fundraising then and when I was a youngster. This week I reprise the comments and think to myself, seven years or 60 years: the door bell will ring and who can say no to those youngsters hoping to sell a chocolate bar or some other product to raise money for a school trip or some hockey equipment.
The previous column went like this:
The mother of several school-age children was lamenting that it is a tiring proposition for her family to support all the fundraising projects that help provide special activities for her children.
She said sometimes it is easier just to write a cheque and not spend the time helping the children carry out some of their fundraising responsibilities. But then, she pondered, how will the youngsters learn about responsibility if mom and dad are always handy with a hand-out of dollars.
Thus, in her home, mom and dad assist with the projects, encouraging their offspring to solicit support from family members, friends, and even strangers living nearby or across town. This all takes time but she confided she is also proud when she sees the excitement of her children in their baseball or hockey uniforms, skating and dance costumes, or even counting out the money they have collected by selling cookie dough or chocolate covered almonds.
In the city the competition must be fierce for the dollars to support all the children seeking finances for school programs and trips not covered by the school district or to help pay for ice or ball field time not covered by registration fees.
As I recall it, we had it so much easier years ago in the rural communities. We didn’t have many projects and that was a good thing because our fundraising opportunities were similarly limited. But when we raised funds, the whole community became involved.
Candy sales were the main source of income for our Explorer group. We seven or eight girls would hold several sales during the course of the year with money going towards Christmas treats at the Christmas concert, buying a lamp for the church, sending some to a missionary in Africa to whom we wrote or buying our membership pins so the parents didn’t have to personally come up with the money.
Each family was obliged to make two pans of homemade candy. Then we would gather at one of the homes to cut up the candy and place a variety of 10 pieces in each small paper bag. Bags were sealed shut, marked with the price: 10 cents or two bags for 25 cents: a deal for anyone with mathematical challenges.
Then it would be off around town to sell our bags of decadent delights. No one turned us down, not even our own parents who had already contributed the cost of the ingredients. The best sales were at the homes of the village’s bachelors. And our sales technique was a bit sneaky: “sorry, we don’t have change for that $5 bill.” Naturally we were told to keep the change and we shouted “thank you” as we ran to the next door before the buyer could come up with the proper change.
At the end of the afternoon we were excited if we made $20 and we happily turned the money over to the treasurer who kept it in a safe spot somewhere in her home.
Our CGIT group, one year, collected $180 for the CNIB and received a certificate of appreciation for our efforts.
Imagine how successful we might have been back then if we had heard about steak nights, meat draws, salad and rib dinners, community cookbooks, penny parades, cookie dough sales, trade shows or food festivals.
I wonder what ever became of that lamp we bought for the church? Think of all the chocolate fudge we had to sell to make that purchase. Today we would need a commercial kitchen and a food-handling course to protect our supporters, and we would have to raise the price to at least $5 a bag.
Joyce Walter can be reached at [email protected]
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of this publication.
