Fundraising

I'm not good at fundraising.  I hate asking people for money.  I'm not very persistent or determined.  But here I am fundraising.

This spring Jackson's teacher raised money for a SmartBoard for the classroom.  But according to the district it wasn't an approved vendor so she couldn't put that particular SmartBoard in her classroom.  Sadly, she had to give the money she raised back.  Which kind of made me mad.  And making a special needs mom mad is not a good idea.  So I went to the principal and had a talk with him.  Basically I asked what I needed to do to get Jackson's class a SmartBoard.  He showed me the paperwork, we calculated the cost, got approval, and I left his office on a mission.  First, I had to see if I could get a good chunk of the money back.  A local credit union had donated over half of the cost so I reached out to them first.  There's no way I could raise all $2500 on my own!  Like I said, I'm not good at fundraising.  Thankfully Inspirus Credit Union agreed to give the money they donated directly to the school to go towards the SmartBoard purchase.  Now I just have to come up with the rest, to the tune of $1100.  Can I pull it off?  Time will tell.

So here's my sales pitch:  The fact of the matter is that no matter how you look at it, special education students tend to get the shaft.  They don't have the same opportunities as our general education students.  And that includes technology.  This past year Spokane Public Schools spent a good chunk of money on technology for Jackson's class.  How much?  I don't know.  No one at the district can answer that question for me.  And what is the technology?  Something called a Smart Table.  Where is this Smart Table?  I don't know.  No one at the district can answer that question for me.  So money that was allocated for Jackson's classroom was spent by someone outside of the classroom, on technology that wasn't conducive to the classroom so they took it away, and it hasn't been in the classroom all year.  Great.  Meanwhile, Jackson's wonderful teacher realized that because so many of the kiddos have visual impairments, the big screen allows them to see the instructional material better.  Couple that with the ability to interact with the big screen (which they do with iPads), and you've got yourself a SmartBoard and technology the kids could really benefit from academically.  Now, of course, there is no money to buy this SmartBoard because the technology money was spent on that Smart Table thingy.  Which brings me to this point of having to fundraise (big sigh).

Which now brings me to this.  If you can help, please do, I'll be forever thankful.  If you can't, I get it.  Either way, share this link on social media if  you feel inclined.  Spread the word!

SmartBoard for Jackson's classroom:  gofundme.com/2ae3xrxy