Re: Anon
We are in the East and last year we had received tickets to a California television show taping. Several people bid on it and the winner did use the tickets. Several people had families in California or visited there for vacation ect.
I don't think anyone here is collecting items just for the heck of it. People want items that will be bid on or sell raffle tickets.
There are many places that will send a rejection stating that they only donate locally. That is totally understandable. But not every place limits donations to local schools and it I think each company can decide where they want to send their products or gift certificates to advertise. Some places specify on their website who they will donate to. If they only honor local requests, they can make that known.
I don't think it's the place of anyone here to tell people where they can or can't ask for items.
I do think some places get bombarded by requests once something is posted on here. But that does not mean anyone has done something wrong. Everyone is just trying to raise money to help kids at the end of the day.
If you take out your local directory, you can get plenty of things without using anything listed on here.
While we always wish we could get all the great items listed on here, there are plenty of other great items to be gotten. Just keep on truck'n!
I am hoping to get something nice from Great Wolf Lodge. The closest one to our school is in Mason, Ohio. We live about 45 minutes north of it. The great thing about our Great Wolf Lodge is that it is (pretty much) next door to Kings Island! So a couple night stay for us would be nice since there are 2 places to visit. In the summer, you could probably spend 3 days there; one day at Great Wolf & 2 days at KI. I have a request in with KI too.
Lorna: I love your teacher baking @ home auction with several students. I immidiately emailed our Carnival Chairperson & PTO President to see what they thought & then emailing our principal to see if there is a teacher who she thinks would enjoy this. I also then thought about auctioning off an afternoon for each teacher to enjoy 1:1 time outside of school maybe going to Chik-Fil-A and a game of putt putt. I'll have to market it up to Chik-Fil-A & Adventure Golf, but it would benefit them a lot in our community. I think each teacher's students would really push & beg their parents to bid up especially if it is their teacher. That was a GREAT idea!
We contact the Great Wolf Lodge website for our area (Poconos, PA) and it's the same deal as written above. I'm sure you could find any vacation spot and offer the same deal (your organization will pay for one-night and they will pay for one). So if you make the offer, it might be a sweeter deal without all the blackout dates. In our area, it would be great for us to contact a Jersey Shore hotel or Atlantic City hotel. Good luck!
I just want to say a BIG THANKS to all of you who have posted your successes. My event is in 3 weeks & I'm sure it will be a success due to a lot of ideas & suggestions taken from here.
I like many if not all of was looking for accommodations in FL to go with out pro hopper passes. To date none of the resorts, hotels, motels have responded affirmatively or some have not even responded.
What I did get was a gift certificate from my travel agent to be used towards a vacation package. So it is at least something. Personally, I am not a Disney World/Land fan; however those that I know who are, go to Disney 1 a year or every 5 years anyway. So I don't think that the lack of accommodations is a real issue.
As far as "Anon" is concerned...I dare say she has lost donations due to her attitude more so than other requests. I have never heard of anyone dropping yearly donations to pick up new ones. Not accepting new requests, yes - but not changing who they donate to.
We have a spring bash and auction every year and one of our highest live auction prizes is our 1st grade teacher who donates her time and ingredients to come to the highest bidder's home and bake cookies with your child and 2-3 friends. If you have a willing teacher this could be a big money item. We have made over a $1,000 each year the past two years - and sometimes when the bidding gets crazy she agrees to do it twice - after all it is for a good cause. Ay other ideas like this would be welcome!
