We make choices or trade-offs everyday.
Run out of butter? No problem..use applesauce for a recipe. Don’t have time to go to the gym? Physically run to pick up the kids from school or eat a healthier lunch.
As you can see from my examples, in addition to working part-time for LitheSpeed I am also a mom. Maintaining my home life (I have three children) and finding the time to get my work done is sometimes a challenge. Any working parent knows that.
In addition to these work and family responsibilities, I am also the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) President at my kids’ school, Herndon Elementary School. Our school is a Title 1 school, which means that over 50% of the children are on a free lunch program. This makes fundraising a challenge. In the past, the school sold wrapping paper and held a silent auction to raise money for field trips, assemblies and other activities. In recent years, these sales have been decreasing…for obvious reasons.
In response, we have had to think outside the box, become more agile with our fundraising methods, and run some experiments.
Last year we started a Booster Club. If families donate $50+, they get to paint a ceiling tile to be displayed in the school.
This year we started a corporate sponsorship program. Local companies can donate to our school in exchange for marketing on the PTA Facebook site or in our monthly newsletter; and they can make appearances at school functions.
We also began using a program called 4 Our School. The service allows shoppers to click through a link (https://www.4ourschool.com) and choose Herndon Elementary School to get to a list of retailers such as Amazon, eBay, BestBuy, Kohl’s and Shutterfly. Once they click the link, they shop as they normally would and the retailers donate a percentage of their purchases to our school.
We have yet to see whether we can sustain the activities that enrich our students’ lives with these new fundraising methods. Next year, the next PTA Board might have to come up with new fundraising ideas and experiments.
I know from LitheSpeed’s CSM class that a year is way too long for a Sprint, but sometimes that is life. And we do what we can with the decisions that we face. LitheSpeed trains people to be agile in the workplace, but life teaches us to be agile for the rest of the day.
