-Some creative ideas
-What some creative kids are doing

CREATIVE WAYS TO RAISE MONEY

-BAKE SALE - Everyone's favorite! Include baked foods from around the world.
-NEIGHBORHOOD FLEA-MARKET - Kids and their families can get their books, used clothes, or hand-made crafts together to sell. Donate part or all of the profits to a particular cause.
-COSTUME BALL - Hold this event around Halloween. Give it an international theme. Charge admission.
-HAVE A READ-, DANCE-, OR WALK-A-THON - Collect pledges from family, friends, and neighbors for each hour or mile you walk or dance, or for each book read.
-STUDENT-FACULTY PLAY-OFF - Compete for the benefit of others. Choose a sport -- volleyball, basketball, etc., -- and invite the rest of your school as well as parents to watch and cheer. Sell tickets or charge admission at the door.
-TALENT SHOW - Hold a student-faculty talent show at your school. Sell tickets. Advertise the event. Donate the proceeds.
-ART SHOW - Hold an art contest where you and your friends enter up to three pieces of their art at $5 per entry. Try to get a local gallery owner to donate space for the event and recruit local celebrities as judges. You could also sell this artwork and donate a portion of the proceeds to your favorite organization.
-POETRY READING - Hold a poetry reading in your favorite cafe. Get students or family members to volunteer to read their own or other's poems related to hunger, homelessness, discrimination, animal rights, environmental issues, etc. Pass the hat and ask diners to contribute. Explain where the money will go. Try to get local news coverage for your event --- this will also appeal to the restaurant owner whose establishment gets free advertising!
-FAST - Give up one meal a week or give up junk food for one week and donate the money to a cause. Get your school involved by going around to other classes and explaining where their money will go. Place large containers in each classroom in which students can place their change.
-SEASONAL CELEBRATION - Hold a seasonal pot-luck dinner. For instance, in autumn ask participants to bring a seasonal dish. Eat outside under colorful trees. Organize simple games and activities to attract children to the event - leaf rubbings, scavenger hunt, story-telling, autumn poetry readings, etc. Charge admission.
-CAR WASH - Hold a weekend car-wash to raise money or make yourself (and friends) available to run errands, do yard work, or walk dogs, etc. Make up fliers to advertise your services and explain where the money will go that is earned.
-BIRTHDAY DONATIONS - On birthdays students can ask parents, friends and grand-parents to make a donation to a special organization instead of buying a gift. Students can do the same for other people's birthdays. Make up a card for the birthday person explaining that a donation was made in honor of his/her birthday to a local organization. Explain how the organization works.
-COMMUNITY AUCTION - Ask families, friends and community businesses to donate their specialties - including skills - to be auctioned off. Be creative! Some teachers and students have had themselves auctioned for a day of baby-sitting, or a day of museum-gazing with a small child, etc. Teachers have made videos of their classroom over the course of the year and auctioned them off to parents. Restaurant and theater owners can donate dinners and seats to shows. This takes some organizing but can raise lots of money for your cause and will alert the community and get everyone involved as well. Students can create posters, canvas the neighborhood for donations, etc.

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WHAT CREATIVE KIDS ARE DOING

-Two Sixth grade students in Concord, New Hampshire wrote to all 100 U.S. Senators about a bill the Senate was discussing dealing with the homeless. They had done their "homework" and presented their arguments in a highly professional manner. They received responses from nearly every Senator (or a member of his/her staff) explaining the Senator's position.
-Twelve year-olds in Sandwich, Massachusetts testified at their state capitol to help pass a law that would ban smoking on public school grounds. The law was passed and several other states adopted similar laws.
-In Chelmsford, Massachusetts a twelve-year old started a petition and testified with friends at a town meeting to protect a wooded area from being destroyed by a condominium development project. The woods are still there.
-Seventh grade students in South Portland, Maine conducted a program at the Portland Museum of Art entitled "Celebrating The Arts In Honor of World Hunger Education." This same class "adopted" a single parent family living in a local shelter and provided them "with a Christmas they will never forget." For more details on the program at The Mahoney Middle School, please see the Fall 1997 Kids Newsletter.
-Fourth Grade students in Kittery Maine ran a canned food drive at their school and donated the food to the local food pantry. Representatives of the classes helped prepare the food for distribution to the clients of the food pantry.
-Another group of Fourth Graders in Eliot, Maine conducted a fund raising event at the school and presented the money they raised to their local food pantry.
-Students from the sixth grade at a private school in New York City gave up a weekend to help raise funds for World Hunger Year. Some of them were on the phone bank during the annual HUNGERTHON radio show.
-Students in Concord, New Hampshire hosted a "hunger banquet" for their parents. Everyone was required to bring canned food for the local food pantry.
-An award winning video was developed and produced by a Sixth Grade class in Bellingham, Massachusetts. The students were responsible for the choreography, costumes, scenery and every member of the class performed.

© Copyright 1999, Kids Can Make A Difference

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