I was emailed by Arthur Murray Dance Studio after they saw my event posted online -- they asked me if they could send something. They sent a certificate for 12 dance classes for either 6-12 yr olds or 13-21 yr olds. If anyone has a studio local you may want to try them.
WOW! How many baskets or donations did you have in years past?I know in years past the movie theaters do not donate corporate chooses the organizations they donate to for the year. Good luck. I am also waiting on onations but hopefully local merchants will pan out for me.
I received an absolutely beautiful Cabot Cheese set with cutting board today. I also received my Keurig machine with coffee yesterday. My event is in less than 2 weeks and my donation results have been the worst in history. The event will be fine, but I was hoping for more prizes. Many of you received positive responses from Highlights Magazine. I never heard from Highlights Magazine and I sent my letter right after Christmas.
I received No's from:
Panera Bread
Brooks Brothers
Samsonite
Pearl Paradise
TJ Maxx
Geralia
Blistex
Lowes
Red Robin
Delmonte
Nike
Regal Entertainment
McDonalds
Dollar Tree
Party City
Justice
Nordstrom
Ben & Jerry's
Turkey Hill
PetSmart
Spangler Candy
KFC
Petco
Pillow Pets
Laura Numeroff
Brookstone
Dan Gutman
Jan & Stan Berenstain
Boston Market
Hickory Farms
Spalding
I have yet to receive replies from over 200 companies. So unless I have a massive surge of responses over the next few days, I do not have nearly the prizes that I have had in the past. I am keeping my fingers crossed that a few more things will come.
hang in there Ginko!! We are facing the very same thing here and we can lean on each other to not let the Negative self centered people who want all the credit get to us. That is why they never want any help because they want the "right" to complain itis difficult and so time consuming (which it is very much so) and how no one understands but they manage to do it all themselves. LOL Anyway DO NOT let them get to you we can do this because if we give up they get what they want or that is what ours want because they say they NEVER have help.. Well we pulled off a major event for our school a family fun night and imagine they had alot of help!! she just knew there was no way to get 13 people for each of 2 shifts to man all the stations we had going. a little bug to the high school student council and some additional parent help by asking for help and walllaaaa.. I can't wait to hear how we did on ticket sales.. remember this was open to everyone in our surrounding areas and we have 750 kids in our school.. there were kids EVERYWHERE!! But keep putting on that smile and showing up because that gets to them worse then their negativity does to you!!
Anyway - I am happy to say I got an approval email from Stampin Up tonight!! Yippee!! Our local bowling alley gave us 25 free games, each pizza place gave us 2 large pizzas, Local garden store came thru with $25 gift certificate and a brand new local Stone Mountain Cafe gave 3- $10 gift cards. yippie i am have a good day today!!
I have found that another problem with the PTO or PTA's is that they do not constantly remind everyone of where this $ goes. The president's of my PTA keep telling me "we said that in the flyer that went home in Sept.". Guess what from Sept-OCtober we received 4 different fundraisers and as of now we probably have received 10-15. People start to just throw stuff out and don't realize that the more you participate, the more the kids benefit. Also, parents are very busy and don't always read everything. I'm a working single mom (widow- so there is not shared responsibility & my nearest relative is 40 minutes away. I am busy like everyone else with work, HW, after school activities, errands & responsibilities etc.) That being said it is amazing the amount of donations I have been able to get (more than the stay-at-home pta members who claim to be so involved & care so much. All that to say that we are all busy so if you remind parents every chance you get by stating what is done with the funds and how important it is for their children's educational experience, they are bound to read it and realize all of the different things the money is used for.
Overall, we can not let the "negative Nellies" get to us. Just keep doing what we do with our main goal in mind.
a little bug to the high school student council and some additional parent help by asking for help and walllaaaa.. I can't wait to hear how we did on ticket sales.. remember this was open to everyone in our surrounding areas and we have 750 kids in our school.. there were kids EVERYWHERE!! But keep putting on that smile and showing up because that gets to them worse then their negativity does to you!! 