The Art of Fund-raising

I'm a teacher.

I'm a few credits short of my Masters degree in Education. I believe in education, and I love it.

What I am quickly learning is how much I despise education-related fund-raising.

Seriously, folks. This is ridiculous. I am spinning in a fund-raising tornado and I can't stop long enough to put my feet on the ground. I am the owner of "packets" galore and could at this very moment in time sell you just about anything from holiday cards, tacky gifts, a subscription to just about any magazine of your choosing, pre-made and frozen cookie and muffin dough, pies, cakes, and pizzas, to any type of gift you might ever fathom buying for . . . anyone.

I understand that education is under-funded. I watch the news and I see what is happening with the economy. Times are tough. We, too, in our little family of Things are trying to budget and do what is best for the family in the big picture.

But this is becoming ridiculous.

Thing 1 is only FOUR. He just started his first year of junior kindergarten in a public school system. I am aware via my tax bill just how much of my annual earnings go to support the Ottawa-Carleton Catholic School Board. And I am still inundated with piles of packets of stuff I am supposed to sell to earn money for the school which my son attends. And living in modern times like we do, a request was sent home to make sure it is known that the school does not support door-to-door solicitation.

Oh. Even better. I get to hassle my close personal friends and family members in person or on the phone and guilt them into buying things they don't need.

In Thing 2's case, he attends a preschool for which we pay a monthly fee. It is a cooperative preschool, which means I volunteer one day a month in the classroom and also serve on the school's board of directors as the vice president. Again, times are tough. Enrollment is down. Funds are low . . . which means the school needs to raise more money.

Which leads us to more fund-raising. So I am getting up before dawn tomorrow morning to head to a garage-sale type event where we have rented a table to sell baby and children's items to earn money for the school. I'm also required to sell a certain dollar amount worth of frozen food from a catalog that was sent home with each student. And next month we're having a pizza party, and then a silent auction.

And I really don't mind doing things like the garage sale. I'm up early anyway, and I'm not trying to complain about it. I love to support my Things' schools and their activities in any way I can. I think the preschool is amazing - that is why I choose to send my son there two mornings a week even though I am not working and it is tight for us to fit it in our budget - and I'll do anything I can to ensure it's success.

But I really, really, really cannot stand soliciting people I care about to support my children when most of them have children of their own needing to be supported for one cause or another. It completely and utterly stresses me out . . . although probably not as much as sending the forms back to school with all the columns bare and empty.

Back to school ain't what it used to be.