An article from “The York Daily Record” (York, PA) that calls attention to health guidelines affecting local fundraising efforts:

Fundraising foods on the table: Candy, pizza vs. fruit baskets
Some district officials know how to handle new guidelines and others don’t

By MICHELLE STARR
Daily Record/Sunday News

Jul 16, 2006 — Some district officials and parents are concerned that new wellness guidelines might hurt fundraising efforts.

School districts had to adopt wellness policies by July 1 if they participate in the National School Lunch or Breakfast Program.

The wellness policies should promote physical activity, healthy foods and making smart choices. The state Department of Education made a list of guidelines to help districts as they try to decide what food and drinks can be sold at lunch, in vending machines, at school stores and fundraising activities.

The department also suggests that food should not be used as a reward in school or that parents not bring in goodies to celebrate special events.

Brian McDonald, department spokesman, said many district officials appear confused because the guidelines aren’t mandates. They are suggestions.

“We say, ‘Here are some good things we think you should do,’ ” McDonald said. “We would hope that they would follow the guidelines in a relatively close manner.

But it’s their decision. “It doesn’t get to a specific level that outright bans one thing over another,” McDonald said.

The guidelines have caused some concern among a few parents and administrators especially because selling food such as candy, cookies or pizzas is used to raise funds. In some districts, the parent groups or activity coordinators aren’t sure yet how the policies will affect them or haven’t determined a plan.

Lisa Warren, president of the Dover Area High School Parent Teacher Organization and past vice president of the same group at Weigelstown Elementary School, said fundraising is how the group pays for playground equipment, programs, festivals and other events.

They could raise $6,000 in pizza sales alone. They might have to try selling healthier food, such as fruit baskets, or items such as wrapping paper or candles. But she isn’t certain those items will make as much money.

Warren is waiting for some direction from the school board.

Joe Chiodi, assistant director of athletics at William Penn Senior High School, said he hasn’t received any guidelines about fundraising but isn’t too concerned.

Though candy is probably the biggest seller for the athletic teams and groups, he believed any cut in sales of candy or other food could be recouped by merchandise sales. The groups sell T-shirts, bleacher seats, hats and other items. Some groups have had success selling candles. A fall barbecue fundraiser also draws funds, he said.

Barb Krier, York City School Board member, said the guidelines might cause a problem with fundraising. For example, she said, teachers at Hannah Penn Middle School sell candy bars to raise money for their various activities.

At Dallastown Area School district, no decision has been made about fundraising yet, said Sue Ayres, district food service director. They haven’t discussed the issue, she said.

Eric Wolfgang, president of the Central York School Board, said guidelines for foods sold for fundraising by booster clubs, performing arts groups, PTOs and other organizations need to be the same rules as those offered in the cafeteria and vending machines - if they are to be sold during the day.

After school, students should be able to sell whatever items they want, he said.

Wolfgang said he believes schools appear to be doing a good job of offering healthy options to students, but the students are only in school six hours a day.

“This is another societal issue that is being legislated into the school system that should be handled at home,” he said.

Food and fundraising guidelines

· Items will be packaged in single-serve portions.

· Foods considered of minimal nutritional value by the U.S. Department of Agriculture won’t be available at school.

· Foods won’t be fried.

· Foods won’t contain sugar as the first ingredient.

· Foods will provide minimal to no trans-fatty acids.

Source: Pennsylvania Department of Education

Cool fundraising event from New Zealand proves you don’t have to be a traditional athlete to help your fundraising effort.

A brave group of PC gamers are set to become Sport Relief’s first-ever cyber athletes, as the team behind Future Publishing’s PCFormat magazine hold their own marathon games session to raise money for the charity.

[S]ix gamers from [Future Publishing’s PCFormat] magazine will play an epic first-to-a-thousand-kills deathmatch of the multiplayer PC first-person shooter, Quake 4. As they prepare for their challenge, the PCFormat team are appealling to games industry and media readers, to support their fundraising event. Gaming experts believe the marathon session will last anywhere between four and seven hours, which will push the PCFormat gamers to the limit.

The PCFormat Quake 4 Marathon takes place […] two days before thousands of people across the UK run a mile for Sport Relief. Sport Relief is organised by Comic Relief and the BBC and aims to raise much needed-cash to help kids leading tough lives in some of the world’s poorest countries.

Taking a breather from his training regime, deputy editor of PCFormat, Alec Meer comments: “Our usual bouts of Quake 4 last about half an hour before we’re absolutely knackered and slump off to the pub. We’re strictly lunchtime amateurs and not pro-gamers - in other words, this will completely destroy us. PCFormat wanted to do something different to raise some money for Sport Relief - we hope everybody will get behind us, supporting Sport Relief’s first cyber-athletes in the process.”

Read the full article here.

ps, “frag the n00bs” is videogame-speak for “shoot the new/weak players”

From Louisiana, eighty-five-year-old Harry Briggs swims 2 miles - in a river, not a heated pool - for fundraising. That makes the prospect of volunteering for your fundraising effort or committing to sell a few items look a lot easier, doesn’t it?

Eighty-five-year-old Harry Briggs will slip into the Red River on Thursday with two things on his mind — his wife and finishing his two-mile swim.

He created the Lydia Briggs Tennis Scholarship for the Northwestern State women’s tennis program six years ago in the memory of his wife, who was an avid tennis player.

His two-mile swim is an annual fundraising effort for the endowment bearing his wife’s name and draws attention for the program. It’s the first time he’ll perform the swim in Shreveport.

“It’s quite a challenge at age 85,” said Briggs, who is adjunct professor of political science at Northwestern’s Leesville-Fort Polk campus.

“I do have demons that enter my mind and tell me that I can’t do it. You just have to drive them out. It’s really in the mind.”

A two-mile swim is difficult even for triathletes, but for Briggs, it’s nothing compared to some of the swims from his younger days.

In 1947, he was the first person to swim across Lake Erie, completing the trip in 35 hours, 55 minutes.

Legendary writer Gay Talese wrote a profile on him for the New York Times in the early 1950s, dubbing him, “The Paddlin’ Professor.”

On his 77th birthday, he swam Tampa Bay needing 14 hours to traverse the current from Tampa to St. Petersburg.

In 1997, he was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame for his 43 marathon swims.

[…]

When it’s over, hopefully the Demons’ women’s tennis program has a few more bucks for its players and he has accomplished another goal.

“As we grow older, we lose our goals,” Briggs said. “This is a tremendous goal for me. I really want to do it.

“It’s a great feeling when you walk out of the water and know you can still do it. And, what’s two miles?”

Read the full article here.

More about the “Paddlin’ Professor” here.

From the New Jersey area, we picked up on a fundraising idea called “tricky trays”.

Sometimes called penny auctions or Chinese basket auctions, tricky trays are usually set up as fundraisers for schools, churches, animal shelters and other non-profit organizations, and they are governed by the same state guidelines that control bingo.

The basic setup is this: prizes are displayed on tables with a raffle box near each prize. People buy raffle tickets, usually in bunches, then drop any number of tickets into the box near the prize they want to win. The more tickets you stuff into a box, the better chance you have of winning.

Some tricky trays offer elaborate prizes. One held recently at the Westmount Country Club in West Paterson as a fundraiser for a West Caldwell elementary school offered a trip to Ireland, passes to Walt Disney World and a lap-top computer.

Some raffles are the culmination of sit-down dinners at banquet halls, and others are BYOS (bring your own sandwich) at American Legion halls or firehouses. Raffle ticket prices also vary depending on the swankiness of the affair. Some have a sliding scale for raffle tickets: $1 a ticket for skin care baskets or toasters, and $10 or more for vacation trips or home entertainment electronics.

[…]

The raffles aren’t just popular among fans, but are also a hit at the non-profits they benefit. Barranco said she helped organize a tricky tray auction for her son’s school in November that raised $20,000 to pay for new books and a trophy case.

Marguerite Kenney of the Caldwell College Alumni Association raised $30,000 for student scholarships at an auction in mid-June, where attendees were invited to dress as their favorite movie stars for the evening’s Hollywood theme.

The reason a non-profit can raise so much money in one night is because tricky tray gifts are usually donated — either by local businesses or the members of the non-profit putting on the auction.

Terri Kinsella of West Caldwell said it took a year and more than 50 volunteers to put on her school’s raffle — soliciting prizes, setting up the banquet hall and wrapping baskets. But the event raised nearly $40,000 for field trips, teacher supplies and other programs run by the Home School Association.

Christine Chiovaro of West Milford, who has won a big-screen TV and Disney passes at tricky trays, said the downside to the auctions becoming so popular is that they’ve taken a toll on local merchants who are asked to donate over and over. “Now every organization out there has picked up on it.”

But the fad doesn’t show any signs of slowing down.

Read the full article here.