Summer Camp Donations --Update Post 89

[Magic Mom]

Fund raising by youngsters is OUT OF CONTROL in this country.

I seriously think these organizations need to start publishing treasurer's reports.

I totally agree. DD's school fundraised non stop this year. Magazines, popcorn, Market Day every single month, Mr Gatti night, wrapping paper...you name it, they sold it. I didn't participate in any of it except the book fair and the Mr Gatti night. Instead I wrote a 25.00 check to the PTA. None of the money even goes to the Kid's spring carnival, ...it all cost. Every game was .50 to 1.00 and a burger and baked bean dinner (cafeteria food) cost 5.00. Drinks 1.00. They suck you dry.
The only sale fundraiser we do is Girl Scout Cookies. I am the troop leader, and we spend a lot of time making it more then just a fundraiser. We work on marketing and public speaking and money skills to go along with the sale.

 

[lucigo]

I used to be one of those "never ask for donations" people, but its amazing what a mom will do for her children. My youngest has autism, and here in Pensacola there is a summer camp for kids with autism that operates out of the generosity of the entire community. I was able to get donations for an auction from several businesses, and monetary donations from friends and family. This not only ensured my son a spot at camp, but helped other kids who wouldn't have been able to go. I can't even put into words how much this camp has helped so many kids.

Just pointing out that not every camp is a waste of a $20 donation.

 

[Val]

Typically, I agree, children should EARN the money for trips/camps, etc. There are a couple of exceptions- trips or "camps" as they are called now for teens who will be working on what we used to call mission trips. I don't mind helping pay the way for a teen (or adult) who is working to better someone else's life- my reasoning is that I can't go, but I can help send someone who CAN! The second exception would be a camp for children who cannot earn it themselves or have a special situation/disability- for example, camps for autism, cancer survivors, etc. My DD10 is able to go to Camp Lions each year because of the generosity of the Lions Club. She has bilateral moderate hearing loss and a "regular" camp won't take her because of her hearing aids/ear-health related issues. The Lions Club members solicit for funds and sell things....and I always try to donate/give equivalent $$$ to what it would send my DD to regular camp. I am more than willing to donate for kids who, because of circumstances beyond their control, can't earn their way.

When it comes to choir/speech/dance, etc., well- they need to provide a service or good in exchange- not just beg. My older DD16 is captain of her speech team.....they do car washes, sell candy bars, etc. (although I now donate the $$$ equivalent to a box of those darn candy bars to keep them OUT of my house). I get a clean car, no candy bars, and they get to go to wherever their next event takes them. Hopefully, that teaches the kids they do to get, not just get.

Pet peeve of mine, as a college professor, is this "give me" attitude- students believe they should "get points" for attending class (as in just showing up), get this or that because they are entitled to it, so they don't have to earn it- and I think it starts with the "free money for the asking" in the early grades. Don't want to sound too much like an old fogey, but we need to get back to the day when hard work = new things/money rather than the "goodies" just being expected! We are constantly having this go round with our 4 kids....I am not Mom the hander-outer....life isn't free....it is something that rhymes with witch and then you die, too! Welcome to grownup hood!

 

[WendyisDarling]

I used to be one of those "never ask for donations" people, but its amazing what a mom will do for her children. My youngest has autism, and here in Pensacola there is a summer camp for kids with autism that operates out of the generosity of the entire community. I was able to get donations for an auction from several businesses, and monetary donations from friends and family. This not only ensured my son a spot at camp, but helped other kids who wouldn't have been able to go. I can't even put into words how much this camp has helped so many kids.

Just pointing out that not every camp is a waste of a $20 donation.

100% Agree. Some camps we should donate to.
I left this piece out of our puzzle, pun intended, because for the purpose of starting the thread it wasn't relevant, my younger DS has autism too. He has a camp and private tutoring that are tremendously expensive. We don't go without food, but we have to make other cut backs in a big way to pay for those things. I'm going to assume the boy who came to the door nor his parents have any clue of what the summer costs us. (Yes, I know DH should have thought of that, but what can I say... he wants to be Mr. Nice Guy). Add to it DH goes on Active Duty from being a reserve component in the National Guard in July, which will affect us financially (other family has no way of knowing that.)
SO...not really pertinant to the general question, but I guess that is why it made me a little more "crabby" than it would have in the past. (ok, I feel a little better now )

We have had help paying for summer activities for youngest DS in the past and we appreciate those who donated. We try to donate a little through the year to those organizations, but we go directly through the organization. I would never rule out though that there could be a day when I need to ask someone directly to help me out. I'd probably go about it differently.

 

[lucigo]

100% Agree. Some camps we should donate to.

We have had help paying for summer activities for youngest DS in the past and we appreciate those who donated. We try to donate a little through the year to those organizations, but we go directly through the organization. I would never rule out though that there could be a day when I need to ask someone directly to help me out. I'd probably go about it differently.

I do agree, its not like we go door to door, I don't think it would be very productive anyway! LOL We still pay for camp, just not the entire amount, plus of course we volunteer countless hours to make it work!

BTW my DH is retired military so I sympathize with the military stuff!

 

[WendyisDarling]

A while after I posted, I realized I shouldn't have injected my personal issues into the topic.
Just a moment of weakness there, shouldn't have been whining. We have many blessings to be thankful for.

As your surmised, my point was the whole door to door thing.

 

[Todd&Copper]

You know, so many people here have said the kids need to do or sell something to get a donation from you - bake sale, car wash, candy/cookies - but I personally would rather just give a check to kids I know than buy some garbage junk food I don't need or want. And I don't really care for jr. high or high school car washes - just kind of bothers me. A good friend of mine showed me brochures from her kid's school - they were selling chesecakes for $25 each and wrapping paper for goodness knows what price [and this was in 2001 or 2002]. She didn't want me to buy anything, she just wanted me to see the crazy prices of the things, and her school got less than half of the sale price of the items (probably more like 25%). I'd rather just give a check directly to the school/PTA than have them get only a small oprotion fo the amount of money I am spending.

 

[Avonlady1001]

Think this would work for the family's "Disney Vacation Fund?" LOLOLOLOL DD is only 3, so maybe in a few years.

 

[WendyisDarling]

In our mailbox today was a thank you note from the neighbor (nice).
The camp for all of us who have been wondering... Young Life Camp. I did a search and it is a Christian camp of some sort. It looks very nice and unlike the camps I went to as a child. Lots of adventure type activities.
I tried to find the cost but only could find mention of what is likely a differnt Young Life Camp, but I'm guessing the cost is similar: $750.

The thank you note was nice.

I personally would not have asked for donations from neighbors (DS is going to a slightly more expensive educational camp that required acceptance, etc. We knew it would be a good experience for him and saved up for it ourselves, which wasn't easy, but that's us).

Anyway, I know many have been wondering about the camp, so that's the answer.

 

[Pigeon]

I still wouldn't have contributed, but at least it's nice to know you weren't scammed!

 

[mom2my3kids]

I agree 100%!

I think we need to start a nationwide, group effort to ban this activity.

We'll need money.

Can I put you down for signs? We'll need someone to scope out street corners and storefronts... I'll go make the cans...

I disagree, its a form of fund raising. As a parent with a child who made All-Stars, I have the money for my child to participate but many do not. We use the money for tournaments, fees run 250.00-500.00 per tournament. I am so glad our parents of our 10 year old All-Stars are wonderful, we had one child who's parents came to my husband to pull their son off the team. The reason they did not have the 200.00 for the sponsor fee and uniform, our parents came up with the rest. We wanted to, we knew this kid deserved to be on the team. It was not his fault his parents could not afford it, we even told them we could take turns taking him to practice and games because they only have one car. I am so glad their are people out there that don't mind dropping some loose change in the jar for the kids outside the door. We also have bagged for tips at our local K-mart, anything to raise money for the tournaments.

 

[gaelic grace]

I think alot of people have had good reasons not to send children door to door. I agree with most of them with the addition that safety is paramount to me. We go to a private school and we have several fundraisers a year. We don't participate. We write a check at the beginning of the year as a donation and I let the teacher know why. I don't like the fact that the school only receives a portion of the money. For my friends and families children I would much rather write a check than buy something I likely don't need but that's my choice. I can buy the item, make a donation or say no. I have done all of these at various times. I don't however try to make a judgement of the character of the child or their family for participating or not. In this case we are dealing with a child and an adult. The adult could have said no but didn't. We have all probably found ourselves in situations where we realized afterwords that we allowed guilt or pride to motivate us. This is a kid. You can say "Thanks for coming by and I hope you have as much fun at camp as our kids will." or any number of other pleasant ways to send him on his way. I don't consider asking begging nor do I consider saying no to be hardhearted. He asked a question you give an answer. This is a tough crowd!

 

[KirstenB]

In our mailbox today was a thank you note from the neighbor (nice).
The camp for all of us who have been wondering... Young Life Camp. I did a search and it is a Christian camp of some sort. It looks very nice and unlike the camps I went to as a child. Lots of adventure type activities.
I tried to find the cost but only could find mention of what is likely a differnt Young Life Camp, but I'm guessing the cost is similar: $750.

The thank you note was nice.

I personally would not have asked for donations from neighbors (DS is going to a slightly more expensive educational camp that required acceptance, etc. We knew it would be a good experience for him and saved up for it ourselves, which wasn't easy, but that's us).

Anyway, I know many have been wondering about the camp, so that's the answer.

As a parent of an ASD child, I can understand better than most your out of pocket costs. Our insurance is dismal at paying for therapy, and I can only imagine the cost of a special-needs camp. Our family spends a small fortune on "supplemental" things, like educational toys, videos etc, not to mention therapy not covered by insurance. I too, would be frustrated by a child going door to door asking for money for camp. Unfortunately, this is a "skill" not readily available to the average ASD child.

 

[WendyisDarling]

As a parent of an ASD child, I can understand better than most your out of pocket costs. Our insurance is dismal at paying for therapy, and I can only imagine the cost of a special-needs camp. Our family spends a small fortune on "supplemental" things, like educational toys, videos etc, not to mention therapy not covered by insurance. I too, would be frustrated by a child going door to door asking for money for camp. Unfortunately, this is a "skill" not readily available to the average ASD child.

True. i should have clarified, I suppose. The son going to the expensive camp is not my ASD child. Odd as it is, my older son is in gifted program and was accepted to a great enrichment camp that we decided was a great opportunity. We have numerous other expenses for our DS with autism this summer.

Not that any of that matters, really, after my post commenting about the struggles of having the expense of a child with ASD as a pp discussed, I disclosed it was inappropriate of me to insert that into this discussion.

I doubt many children with ASD would go door to door as most contributions just aren't done that way, at least in my experience. I receive soliciations directly from organizations.

In this instance, it was for a pricey (IMO) Christian camp and had nothing to do with ASD or any other disability. DH, of course, could have said no. He didn't. It wasn't a huge deal, just irritated me, personally. I thought it was an interesting topic for discussion on this forum.

I am glad he sent DH a thank you note.

I will 100% agree with you that donations to camps for children with special needs are justifiable.

 

[amsafko]

Interesting, I went to Young Life camp when I was in high school and worked at 2 different ones. I have to say I would never have gone door to door nor would I have been allowed (I was the youngest of 8, we weren't rolling in it). I know that for kids who couldn't afford it, at least in the group I was in, they would find a way to help them get there. They always said no one would be left behind. We did larger organized activities to raise money, that I have no problem with.

This thread has really made me consider how I will confront these issues with my own kids as they start school (ages 6, 4, and 2). I have never liked how many fundraisers my nieces and nephews have been in - for our kids I will just buy some stuff or make a donation.