When You Want Something Done. . .

So, last April I had this idea: I would find out if the school where I worked could benefit from some corporation's generosity. I scouted out opportunities, and hit upon a car dealership. Lincoln was starting up a "Drive Smart for Your School" program where a school could host an event at the school or at a local dealership, and up to 300 adults could drive a car at the location on a specific day, and for each drive, the dealership and the automaker would donate a combined twenty dollars up to $6,000 for a day of test drives. 

Could it work at my school? Some people were dubious. In the past, parents had theoretically been uninvolved at my school. Some folks said that the kids weren't invested in the school. It was not a well-understood concept, this something for nothing idea of a fundraiser. But I plowed ahead with administrative support, and got the kids at school excited. 

On Saturday, October 22, we had 38 students who were excited, enthusiastic, hard-working, fun people working the event. Together with a few energetic parents, class advisors, and a few of our high school staff members, we registered 85 drivers on a clear, but cold and windy day.

Our spirits were high, one of our much beloved teachers won one of two Android tablets that were being offered by Bob Davidson, and the folks who took the test drives were unanimously thrilled at the opportunity to take a drive in a brand new Lincoln without any sales pressure. They were pleasantly astounded at the fact that no one from the sales floor approached them to explain how they could finance a new Lincoln for them. They were agog at the fact that with a simply filling out of a form, they could get in a Lincoln and drive it around — no middle man.  And such a sweet, smooth ride!

In the end,we had many parents test drive Lincolns. Uninvolved? Not these parents! We also had 38 kids work the event who ended up with a sense of accomplishment that only comes from hard work. Oh, and a sense of having had fun while accomplishing something good. And not having gotten ANYTHING from it, but some money for their school.

Not one kid knew that they could personally benefit from working the event. They had no idea that local businesses had contributed gift cards as prizes for their efforts. We raffled off a $50 iTunes card from Walgreens, two cheese pizzas from Pat's Pizza, a $25 Modell's Gift Card, and a basket of Halloween goodies from the Dollar Store. 92Q had their community van there with all kinds of prizes just for playing games, and Sport Clips and Chick-fil-A both donated gift cards to our cause to stuff in drivers' goodie bags. My heartfelt thanks go out to the entire community for their involvement in our cause. 

Next year we will be even more financially successful, but for this year, we disproved the theory that Parkville kids and their parents are not invested in their school. My husband and I spent a day with close to 40 kids who were invested enough that they gave up part of, or all of their Saturday as well as the bulk of their Friday night to help raise money for it! I'm proud to be a part of their lives, and proud that they belong to "my school."