180: Day 24: Fundraising for the whole school

Most schools these days need to do fundraising, whether they be public or private. The last two weeks at Sacred Heart Cathedral has been “Walkathon weeks.” Students collect donations from relatives, neighbors, and friends. It’s our one big student fundraiser of the year. The final day is the Walkathon itself. Students meet at the Polo Fields in Golden Gate Park. After taking roll and some spirit-building games, we’re off on the walk. Four miles later, we’re back in the bleachers for a bit more spirit, then everyone walks to the nearby meadow for lunch. After lunch, students and teachers are free to go.

I enjoyed the walkathon, and think it’s a great opportunity for community building (as well as to make some money). Having a full day (well, half-day in reality) where our community gets together without academics or athletics gives us a chance to chat and just enjoy life together. The parent volunteers are wonderful, and lunch is a great finisher for the day (they even had plenty of vegi-burgers!). Since they have the afternoon off, I heard about some of the students were heading down to the beach (September in San Francisco tend to have the most sun, and we lucked out this weekend).

This might be harder for a public school to pull 0ff (in California, there is a minimum number of hours required to make a day count as a “full day” for finances), but I think it could be done. SHC has worked out many details in 26 years; if you’re interested in more details, here’s the Walkathon home page, or leave a question in the comments section below.

It will be a great day when we don’t have to have fundraisers in schools, but in the mean time, this model is a great one.