Thanks to everyone for their comments..I was excited to see many of you express interest in putting on a smiliar community event. We were very proud of what we were able to donate. Me and the other board member pretty much did all the work for the night of the event, her the planning and scheduling, me the behind the scenes computer work for flyers, posters, signs etc, and it wasn't too overwhelming. I wanted to let you know that if you email me your fax #'s I can send you the flyers, necklace activity cards, etc. for help in planning your own event. We used a smiliar card from another school to create ours and it is always easier to have some sort of template when doing something for the first time. We would love to share our work as we feel that it is important for the Parent Groups to get the kids involved in community activities early on...I will wait to hear from anyone interested!!!
Your program sounds wonderful. If there is criticism about the "price" of admission, how about making it optional? State on the flyer that there will be a canned food drive and a toy drive, but don't make it mandatory for admission. I'm sure most people will bring things anyway, and you won't get complaints that people might not be able to afford it. For what it's worth, I think the event was a fantastic idea.
At Monday's School Board meeting they honestly got a letter from a parent asking them to CHANGE the time of the month they do fundraisers as the parent's next door neighbor is on a fixed income and didn't have the money to participate.....it makes you wonder how much pressure was put on her??
Four barrels of food and three barrels of toys!!!
Let me talk to your board member....her idea has not only brought a night of fun to her school but made a difference in her community! She created a win win night and should be proud of that!!!!
ptsoparent,
I learned a long time ago that you can't please all the people all the time. No matter how great something is, there will always be someone who will find a negative. Do not let them discourage you and your creative parent.
We did a Halloween event for the first time this past year that was well attended. Your ideas would work at our school. I am copying your message to show our PTA board.
It sounds like a great night! If you have any details on the planning I would love them as I would like to throw this out on the table for next year. Keep telling your creative parent that she did a great job, have her come to this board! [img]smile.gif[/img] Maggie
Thank youf or the comments - your feelings are much as my own. The night went wonerful. We filled over 4 barrels of food and three barrels of toys. The firefighters were so appreciative of the donations. The kids had a great time and all who came were glad for the experience. our community supports are PTSO all year long and we really wanted the focus of thenight to be giving to others. We bought several things that will now be used over again and will not be a cost for next year. The $500.00 for this year will definately be lower for our 2nd annual night - maybe more like $300.00. The Senior Center that we took the tree to was overwhelmed and they loved the ornaments. I was proud of the night and it was hard to hear the criticism. We just sent out a fundriasing survey to get parents opinions on where we want our money to go and we still have parents that do not want to spend the money toward putting on the event. It shocks me. We will be voting to approve the night for the 2002 Winter and hopefuilly it will pass, I think it will. Unfortunately I can't get our other board member to change her mind. I will keep trying.
