ChallengerPTA you wrote; "we decided to do a penny drive for a local childrens charity."

My first thought would be - why limit it to a penny drive - open the idea up to a coin drive or loose change drive.

Let the kids and teachers bring in their loose change for a week or a month then make a big announcement or keep a poster of how the drive is going. Regularly send home half page flyers reminding the parents of this drive that the STUDENTS were encouraged to participate in. Have tables set up outside for serveral morning at the entrance of the school so parents could see the tables with collection jars (maybe old pickle jars or such from a commercial business).

We had one school in area do this and donated the money to the childrens ward at the local childrens hospital - the nurses or someone then purchased items that the children would appreciate on a regular basis and maybe were no longer in good condition or such. (new handheld electronic gams such as Yahtzee, Scrable, Four corners), books, board games and such. The PTA and school student council reps. could even do the purchasing from a wish list previously obtained from the hospital - thus turning over goods to the childrens hospital ward in lieu of all the loose coins.

Super community awareness project about all over the country right now - let's hear about more of them!

I realize that you don't want to ask the parents for too much, but how about some trash to treasure gifts for hospice or childrens hospital as suggested. I'm sure the children in the hospital would love tic tac toe games made out of egg cartons and pompoms. Elderly people never tire of items that they can display especially those that come with a snapshot of the person (group) who made it. I know this probably sounds cornie, but how about displaying kindness and feel good signs around the neighborhood. The children could make posters with things like,Drive Safely, We Care, Our City is Great, Thank You for Being Our Neighbor, and such. Don't forget to put your schools name on them and have the kids sign their names. Delene


[This message has been edited by Delene (edited 09-06-2001).]

Thank you for this information, I also didnt read the article (I am sorry), but so I glad I read about it. We had an Executive Board Meeting for PTA tonight and I presented the idea and everyone loved it!! So we decided to do a penny drive for a local childrens charity..

So becasue of you a local charity will beneift along with our children to understand how important it is to take care of others.

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

Tim,

Thanks for the info. I searched Chalk Talk but of course I didn't find anything.

I am very excited about the free subscription service. Thank you very much! I have signed myself up (as President) and also my first vice/fundraising chair.

Forgive me if this is detailed somewhere else in the site, but is there any possiblity of getting back issues? I am keeping them in a library for my successor. If I can bear to part with them. I think I'm in this for life!

Speaking of the web site, I like the new look. Very nice. I read somewhere else in the forum about the possibility of a "Best Of" section for forms, letters, etc. This would be very, very helpful. There are so many posting here that are far more creative than I am. It could save us all time!

Thanks for reading and responding to my post!

I understand about not wanting to do a collection. I'm thinking that with the upcoming Thanksgiving and Holiday season, it is not too early to start restocking the local food pantry. If this is a need that is already being met, you could check with your local council of churches and possibly work with one of them. Check with your school social worker if you have one. Collect used backpacks, winter coats, or school supplies are needed all year. Our local shelter for abused women and children tries to have a reserve of school supplies on hand for the children living there.
I'm going to look up the Make A Difference Day article now. The last two issues of PtoToday have never made it to my school mailbox!