Boosterthon 2011!

Ah, the elementary school fundraiser. I hate them. I hate the "entertainment" books that cost $30 for a bunch of coupons you don't use, the catalogs full of junky wrapping paper and overpriced gifts, and the expensive cookie dough that you could make on your own. The kids taken out of class for assemblies to introduce and push the lame-o dollar store prizes they will get for selling gobs of junk. I just send all those fundraisers back. I'd rather write a check to the PTO than contribute to such lame companies.

I have to say, Boosterthon is a school fundraiser I can get behind. Blake's school started this fundraiser last week by sending info home: The kids would run laps (1/16 mile) and get pledges for every lap they ran (cap of 35 laps). With each pledge, the kids get a prize and after a week of fundraising, each kid gets a tshirt and races! Blake was so excited to race and get the prize for three pledges: the cloud ball. The great thing about this fundraiser is you can either pledge per lap, or give a flat pledge to help the school. The Boosterthon itself keeps 48% of the profits (the same as any other fundraiser and better than Chick-fil-a night or Chuck E. Cheese where only 10% goes to the school). It's lame that the school doesn't get more profit, but then again, this fundraiser is run completely by Boosterthon, and doesn't require teachers or school staff to take time to run it. Boosterthon also gives a portion of profits to schools in underdeveloped countries. And I'd rather give $$ and have the kids participate in exercising than fill my freezer with overpriced cookie dough. And yes, they miss class time to run the race, but seriously, these kids only get ONE 20 min recess ALL day. I had three in elementary school. The time they took (about 1.5 hrs start to finish) for the race is time well spent in my book.

Anyway, another brilliant tactic the Boosterthon uses is it spends 5 min in the classroom each day handing out prizes to kids who get pledges. You can see why Blake really wanted his cloud ball (he also got a bracelet he's been wearing all week and glow-in-the-dark water bottle). But, getting three pledges was easy and Blake has been SO excited to run for his school. He even prayed last night that he would be able to run all 35 laps! I was excited for him to set a goal and be able to do it! Grandpa Welsh even called him on Sunday to wish him luck.

The fun run was today and it was a blast! The "track" was set up with a drink station, music, noisemakers, and flags. The kids all wore tshirts with lap numbers on the back that the teachers would mark as they passed the starting line each time around. After the National Anthem, the kids took off! The music was a blast (seriously, I want to run in a race with such fun music)! They had laps where the kids danced, jumped, walked, or teamed up, and it was all so much fun. Blake took off running for the first 10 or 12 laps with tons of energy. He started taking more breaks as it wore on, but kept working really hard. I stopped him at lap 17 to see how far he had gone. At lap 22, he was getting tired and asked me to count how many were left. I told him to work hard for the final 12 and he watched for us to cheer as he rounded each lap. Finally, they announced the last song and he had five laps to go. We cheered and cheered him on as he ran the final times around the track. As they counted down the final ten seconds, Blake had his final lap marked on his shirt!! I was so proud of him! And I guess that's why I don't mind that the company took 1/2 the profits (just like all the other fundraising companies do). Blake learned that exercising is fun and he can do really hard things, plus he raised money for his school. On top of that, the kids got pledges from all fifty states (they got the last 12 states last night) so they can see their principal get a pie in the face on the morning announcements tomorrow (great motivation again) and their school is going to pocket $23,000!!! Holy cow! That's awesome!! I thought it was a fun way to involve parent, kids and teachers in the necessary evil of fundraising.

And while were at it, I LOVE the PTO programs at the school. Blake gets to take part in an after school fitness program for free and he gets to spend time reading with a therapy dog. They do a great job of supporting the teachers and providing things for the classroom too. The PTO will put the money to good use. Here are some fun pics from this morning's race:



And a video with me yelling in the background: