FUNDRAISING ACTIVITIES FOR 2008 / 2009

Welcome to all returning and new members of the Pennsbury Instrumental Music Program.  Once again it is the time of the year to look forward to an exciting series of performances in the coming year by our talented students and dedicated instrumental music staff.  Band Camp is just the beginning

In addition to cheers, praise and applause the booster organization supports our students through fundraising activities.  We have a substantial operating budget that is approved each year.  Activities we support go a long way in improving our children’s experiences within the instrumental music program.   In addition we have supplied many items requested by our staff in support of the bands, including instruments, music rights for the library and infrastructure.  Last year we were fortunate enough to donate funds to purchase a variety of instruments and an evaluation and teaching software / hardware package that will help the staff and students achieve their performance goals for this year and years to come.  In addition, we offer the students the opportunity to earn funds required for to meet current year benchmarks and future trip benchmarks, reducing the impact on family finances.  Even in non trip years fundraising is an important part of our activities!

The fundraising committee continues to work on a variety of opportunities.  We will offer ample programs for students to earn credit in their specific benchmark accounts.  Our fundraising efforts are broken down into three basic categories:

a) Monthly fundraising programs.  The first of the monthly fundraising packages will be distributed to the students in August.  There will be details of the overall fundraising process, brochures and order sheets for current fundraising opportunities.  Orders and funds will be turned in a month later (turn in night), with goods delivered to the students approximately a month after that (pick up nights).  This cycle will repeat monthly, with new offerings distributed each time.  We are planning to start the cycle during band camp at the August Booster meeting.  Most nights will correspond to our Instrumental Music Band Booster meetings.  A percent of all sales is credited to the student’s benchmark account.  The actual percent will vary by program.

The August offering will include Fisher’s Pot Pies, Genevieve’s Coffee Cakes & Cookies, Marching Band Festival Ads and Avon products.  September will include Corbi’s Pizza, Pee Jay’s Fruit, a variety of Gift Cataloges from 3J Fundraising, last minute Marching Band Festival Ads and Avon.  Future offerings will include Yankee Candles, Silpada Jewelry and a variety of specialty catalogs throughout the year.

In addition the following will be offered at various times: Giant Scrip, $1 candy bars / M&M’s and Fruit Snacks, Avon cosmetics, the Third Annual Walk-a-Thon and a discount card from local businesses.

b) Band sponsored nights at local stores and restaurants.  We are planning to work with a variety of local restaurants and book stores in setting up special fund raising nights.  A percent of sales from these evenings will be donated to the band.  We will run these events at Chic-Fil-A, Pizza Uno and Cheeburger Cheeburger to name a few.  If you have any connections at local establishments that participate in these community activities, please contact me to discuss the opportunity.

c) Special one day events.  There will be a variety of special events as well, including the annual Marching Band Festival, Jazz Band Festival and Spring Golf Tournament.  Activities during these events in which students can earn credit include festival program, sponsorship and ad book solicitations.

In addition, we will be investigating programs for future years to ensure our compliance with the Pennsbury School District’s movement toward a nutritionally healthy environment for our students.  If you have any ideas on future programs for us to consider, please do not hesitate to contact me with your thoughts. 

CALL FOR HELP

We appreciate the initial response for assistance and have been contacted by a few folks ready to be a part of our fundraising activities.  The more members that step up and help will reduce the overall work load and allow us to investigate additional opportunities.

We are looking for help at many levels.  The most basic is assisting during turn in and distribution nights.  Tasks could include distributing new activity packets, sorting bulk goods from previous month’s orders or logging out candy, Wawa coupons and discount cards.  Additional help is needed prior to meeting nights with the coordination or assembly of literature packs, coordination or pick up or storage of product from vendors, coordinate activities with a specific vendor, coordinate or participate on a committee for a specific program or special event.

In addition, if you have a specific talent, or great contacts, and feel that you would like to chair or participate in one of the programs, we would like to hear from you.  You can contact me @ 267-391-9837 or drop me an e-mail at sgursky1@verizon.net, or contact any member of the e board.

Thanks to all who have volunteered to help in the booster organization this coming year.  Special thanks to current and future volunteers involved in our fundraising efforts.  The Pennsbury Instrumental Music Program will continue to be world class and your efforts go a long way in assisting the students and Staff in this achievement. 

Regards,

Stan Gursky

VP & Fundraising Chair

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