A lot of people nowadays like to play tennis. It is a fun sport that everybody involved can enjoy, either just to watch from the sidelines or to actually take part in. With so many schools in the US now encouraging students to take part in tennis club, students are finding this sport helps them to stay fit while also giving them time to interact socially with other students after school.

There is also the element of competition, and many schools are sending their finest tennis players to play against other schools around the state. Unfortunately, what this means for schools is the need for more money, and the school budget sometimes can’t cater for everybody’s needs.

Tennis fundraising ideas are a great way to remedy this, and encourage everybody at the school to band together to raise money for the tennis team. If you are involved with the school tennis team, then it may have fallen to you to organize a tennis fundraiser, but planning such an event may be harder than you think.

The best tennis fundraising ideas are the ones that everybody can enjoy. You will want to make sure when planning your event that you choose something that people of all ages can be a part of. Our fundraising products are a good solution for those looking for something for everybody. We have a range of different products that will suit everybody’s needs, from our Color Xploder Lollipops Fundraising package to our Earth Candle Fundraiser.

They come in all shapes and sizes, from simple crates to brochure ordering to fundraising cards and scratch cards. To help your next tennis fundraising ideas develop, why not incorporate our Sports Team Fundraising Scratch Cards to really make a difference.

Whatever you choose to go with, using fundraising products is a great way to raise money at your event that will benefit everybody.

Joining the school’s lacrosse team is a great way for students to stay fit. They can unwind after a busy day of schoolwork and socialize with like-minded students that enjoy playing the sport. If you are the coach of a school lacrosse team, or a faculty member that likes to get involved, you will probably know that funding can be tight for lacrosse gear, and the school’s budget is not likely to be able to cater for all your needs.

With the cost of new equipment and uniforms, to travel expenses for the students, you might decide that holding a lacrosse fundraising to raise funding and support for your team is the way to go.

Lacrosse fundraising ideas can be implemented quite easily once you know how. You just need to make sure that you take the planning of your event in individual steps to make sure things go without a hitch. As long as you do this, you will be increasing your chances that your next lacrosse fundraising ideas become a huge success for everybody involved.

Before you get started you should gather a few helpers from the lacrosse team to help you with organizing your event. Or you may find that other people around the school want to help out, even if they aren’t affiliated with the lacrosse team. Simply doing something positive to help a good cause is motivation enough for many people.

One way to succeed with lacrosse fundraising ideas is through the use of fundraising products. We have a nice variety of products for you to choose between that will go toward making your next fundraising event a great success. Our Sports Fundraising Scratch Cards are great for sports fundraisers and will help you reach your targets in no time.

For these products and more, simply visit our product pages to see what we can offer.

Holding a school fundraiser can be a very effective way to bring some extra funding to your school. It encourages everybody, from the students to teachers to other school staff, to all get together in support of a good cause.

There are many different roles that people in the school can take on, from helping to develop ideas that will make your fundraiser a success, to making signs and banners to put up around the school to promote the event, to actually going out and selling fundraising products to help you reach your targets.

Regardless of their age, all students can get involved with fundraising, and as long as you keep your ideas fresh and exciting then most students at your school will want to be a part of your plan.

Soccer fundraising ideas can help your school’s soccer team find the money it needs to pay for important upgrades. If you want to hold a soccer fundraiser you may have already considered doing something tradition like a bake sale or lemonade stall.

But what will really get the students excited is giving them something that hasn’t done before, and that incorporates a sports theme to go with the cause you are supporting. If this sounds like a good idea to you then why not go with a sponsored event in support of your soccer fundraising ideas. You could hold a sponsored walk or bike ride, or even hold a sponsored soccer match between faculty members and students.

Even those that do not take part will be glad to come and watch, and it will give them something that they don’t usually see on a regular school day.

Alternatively, you might choose to sell some fundraising products to help you reach your goals. For all your fundraising product needs, visit our product pages to see what we have to offer.

Public schools, hit by budget cuts, drops in donations and new fundraising guidelines, are capitalizing on the culinary craze. Mobile eateries park at campuses, dispensing meals to the hungry and money to cash-strapped facilities.

Diners come to Whitney High School in Cerritos for a food truck night that is helping the school raise money for a new multimedia room. Area high schools are starting to capitalize on the culinary craze by inviting trucks to campus and charging them a fee or asking for a donation. (Lawrence K. Ho, Los Angeles Times / October 17, 2011)

Photos: Food truck culture
Angel Jennings, Los Angeles Times
October 23, 2011
Echo Lau drove to Whitney High School on a recent Monday evening to pick up her kids. She left with dinner.

The student parking lot at the Cerritos campus is transformed every week into a congested food truck stop as eight mobile eateries attract the business of loyal followers, parents and students.

But this isn’t a typical stop for these catering trucks; this is a school fundraiser, in which a portion of the proceeds go directly to Whitney to help pay for a new multi-media center.

Outdoor food courts are popping up in the parking lots of at least a dozen high schools across Southern California with more on the way. Financially strapped public schools — hit hard by budget cuts, new fundraising guidelines, and fewer donors — have found a way to capitalize on the food truck craze.

Schools typically earn up to $50 per food truck nightly. It’s small change that quickly adds up, said Bryan Glonchak, assistant principal at Whitney. Since school opened, Whitney has made a total of $2,000 on the fund-raiser.

In most cases, schools host weekly food truck events, in which up to 10 vendors gather at dinnertime. Facebook and Twitter help spread the word.

The money is then used to fund scholarships, pay for equipment and school projects.

Last year, the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California sued the state for allowing school districts to charge students for books, uniforms and other basic supplies. A settlement agreement established protections against the fees but it also mandated that schools can no longer require students to fundraise.

Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed a bill two weeks ago that would have created a law based on the settlement; the ACLU has refiled the case.

Prior to the December settlement, some schools had not only required student fundraising but set quotas for those who participated in extracurricular activities.

At Fullerton Union High School, football players had to come up with $300 through fundraising and parents’ contributions. But in May, the assistant principal told faculty members they could no longer ask for students’ time or money.

Since then, Fullerton has hosted its own food truck fundraiser to make up the difference. But the Orange County school put its own spin on the event.

On a recent Saturday, 22 food trucks circled the football field under high-voltage floodlights as music blared in the speakers that normally carry the voices of sports announcers. More than 1,000 residents, students and food truck followers sat on the field on blankets, in lawn chairs and around folded dinner tables.

Fullerton hosts events like this every six weeks. Instead of charging the food trucks a set fee, the school asks the owners to donate what they want. The school receives about $100 to $150 per truck.

So far Fullerton has held four fundraisers and raised $13,000 — more than half the cost of uniforms for the varsity football team.

Cerritos High School has raised $3,000 since it held its first food truck fundraiser on a Thursday night in July. The money collected goes to the athletic program, and helps pay for field equipment and transportation to the games.

At Taft High School in Woodland Hills, the proceeds from the food trucks go toward college scholarships. Last year, a number of seniors received awards with the $5,000 raised at the events. In the past, community sponsors and alumni donated the money, but as the economy weakened, Taft noticed a decrease in charitable giving.

Other schools hope to host similar fundraisers, said Christian Murcia, the owner of the Crepes Bonaparte food truck. Murcia, the liaison between the schools and the catering trucks, said he receives calls weekly asking him to host a food truck night. He adds the schools’ names to a growing list.

He wants to make sure he doesn’t overextend his team or oversaturate the market. But he does acknowledge the benefits of being partners with high schools.

“Brick and mortar restaurants and shopping centers don’t want us parking on the streets stealing business away from them,” Murcia said. “This keeps us out of trouble and allows us give back to the community.”

Justin Moore-Brown, who works at Chunk-n-Chip Cookies, a food truck where customers design their own ice cream sandwiches, said: “It’s a win-win situation for us both. There is a profit sharing system among the trucks, and the high schools come with an automatic base of kids and families.”

At Whitney High School, as night crept over the parking lot, customers swarmed closer under the lights of the food trucks.

Behind the Ragin Cajun truck, Paul Reyes of Anaheim, still dressed in blue hospital scrubs, turned the trunk of his Subaru sedan into a makeshift dinner table. The 26-year-old respiratory therapist had just ended a 12-hour shift at Long Beach Memorial Hospital, but still made the hour and a half drive to Whitney for a Korean barbecue roll from Let’s Roll It.

Reyes convinced his relatives to meet him at the food truck stop. After he finished his first round, he took the last $29 out of his pockets and headed back to his favorite truck. To Reyes, it’s money well spent.

For the Lau family, the trucks are a weekly tradition that they’ve only missed once.

“I don’t need to cook today” or any other Monday night, said Lau, a 47-year old Norwalk resident, in between bites of a twisted potato-on-a-stick from Tornado Potato. “And [this event] is supporting the school.”

angel.jennings@latimes.com

Ms. CheapMary Hance

As one mom sees it, the extra efforts to fund more teachers and programs are what makes Los Alamitos schools some of the best in the state. By Ann Gunvalsen Saks

I just received an email from the Los Alamitos Unified School District Foundation asking for money to help offset cuts in state funding. The letter asks that we give $351 per student to for the Class Size Reduction campaign.

Between the school carnival, auction, cookie dough sales, and Jog-a-thon, how should I feel about receiving such a letter? I know quite a few people who are put off and angry that parents are asked to support their child’s school in such a way.  It is a public school after all.

Personally, I welcome every fundraising letter I receive from the district and the school. I don’t always give. I simply can’t afford to give at near the level I would like. But I am thankful that they ask.

One of the main reasons we decided to move to this area is because of the school district.  Los Alamitos Unified District is a great school district.  According to schooldigger.com, Los Alamitos Unified is ranked 40 out of 766 California School District.  That means our school district is in the top 5% the State has to offer.  This is far better than some neighboring school districts. Cypress Unified ranked 144, Garden Grove ranked 267 and Long Beach ranked 332.  After living here for five years and being involved with the schools, I think I know a few reasons it’s so great. We have parents and a community that cares about our kids. The number of parent volunteers is staggering, and that makes the district appealing to many highly trained teachers and administrators.

Our schools do so well because the community supports them financially as well. We have auctions, booster clubs and carnivals, just to name a few.  These fundraising efforts really help our kids. They fund aides so that the school day can be longer, aides to help children that need a little extra help, art education programs, music education, technology such as smart boards, after school programs, science camp, summer enrichment programs, higher student to teacher ratios, teacher training and many other things that other school districts survive without.  Just two years ago the Los Alamitos Education Foundation began asking for money to reduce class sizes.  Last year the campaign raised more than $200,000. The money was used at each school in the district to reduce class sizes. At the elementary level, the schools hired former teachers to assist teachers with small-group learning in English and math.  The middle schools and high schools were able to add additional periods for English and math classes, resulting in higher student and teacher ratios. The nearly 10,000 kids in our District benefit greatly from the generosity of the community and the volunteers that put fourth these campaigns.

The next time you are asked to donate to the school or the district, please don’t be annoyed. Be glad they do it. And if you can, give, no gift is too small. If we all gave $25 per child, the district would have an additional $200,000 to help our schools.

Read more about the Los Alamitos Educational Foundation at http://www.losaledfoundation.com/

Written by Ashlee Kieler | Staff Writer

The Altoona Elementary PTA saw a unique fundraising opportunity and seized it.

With RAGBRAI coming to Altoona, and the PTA always looking for ways to raise funds for the school, it seemed like a perfect fit to combine the two.

“We heard about this and thought it was one of those things that you can’t pass up,” said Amber Myers, the PTA organizer for the event. “It’s a huge opportunity for us. It’s obviously different than normal going door to door.”

After deciding to host the fundraiser, Myers and other organizers focused on what to sell.

“We have frozen bananas hand dipped in gourmet chocolate, nuts, rainbow sprinkles and dark chocolate, too,” she said. “We have a large variety of baked goods.”

The Altoona PTA vendor booth also sold popcorn and water for $1. Glow necklaces for $1 added a little fun to the evening as
well.

The entire community came out to support the fundraiser, even those without students at the school, Myers said.

“We sent out communications asking people for help, it’s mainly parents that have students, but we’ve had people that just want to help,” she said.

The PTA hosted a drop-off on Tuesday for baked goods from parents who volunteered at the booth.

“However we can get it, we’re going to take it,” Myers said on Tuesday. “We’re trying to make it as easy as we can for our volunteers.”

Volunteers, including a few students, manned the booth at the Aquatics Center for a few hours at a time on Thursday.

Gina Christensen was one of the first volunteers, setting up shop around 9 a.m.

“Things are going great,” Christensen said. “Hopefully it doesn’t rain, but we’re excited Advertisement to be a part of the event.”

Myers expected the booth to be open from 3 p.m. to midnight.

“It’s fun but overwhelming all the same,” she said.

Myers said she hoped the students learned it takes a little hard work in anything you do and it can be a great opportunity.

“We want to instill the concept of working hard to earn things,” she said. “The concept of teamwork, too. We’ve had an enormous amount of support. The help is amazing. We want the volunteers to enjoy it.”

Shannon McWilliams, Atoona Elementary parent and volunteer, said she enjoyed manning the booth.

“It’s been great so far,” she said. “We have a great crowd and have sold a lot of treats.”

McWilliams said the evening crowd had really picked up, with rice krispie bars, chocolate-covered bananas and water being the top sellers.”

“It’s a fun time,” she said of the RAGBRAI crowds. “It’s fun seeing the parents and students volunteer and meeting people. I talked to someone from Texas, and earlier someone from Australia.”

The funds raised will help with everything from new technology to supporting teachers or scholarships.

“There are several things we are always needing money for,” she said. “Ultimately we want to continue funding technology upgrades and advancement in our classrooms. We want to add a smart board for every classroom. We like to support teachers and students through funding and
enrichment.”

The worst case scenario at Auckland airport may have been the inspiration needed for cheerleaders competing in Australia.

Fantasy Cheerleading’s three teams won a clean-sweep of awards at the Down Under Spirit championships on the Gold Coast last week.

But the group almost didn’t make it to the competition after its flight was cancelled because of the ash cloud.

Owner and head coach Toni Wright says 78 people went to the competition, including 48 performers aged six to 17, and their chaperones.

On the day they were due to fly out they were told their flight had been cancelled.

“I had to text 78 people to tell them the flights had been cancelled and to stay put,” she says.

Eight performers and a mother were already in Auckland and managed to get an alternative flight.

But the remaining group had to sleep at Auckland airport and then pay $450 each – over $30,000 – to buy new tickets with Air New Zealand the next day.

They also had to cram into a train from Brisbane to the Gold Coast and then had to practise on a small piece of grass in the dark and the rain.

But Toni says by the time the girls got to the competition all their nerves had gone.

“They had gone through all this stress.

“Some were crying at the airport because they thought they weren’t going to go, nothing could be worse. By the time they got to the competition they were just so glad to be there.”

Fantasy entered teams in youth level two, junior level three and senior level three. All three won their divisions and the youth team got the best score for level two performers.

The senior team not only got the best score for level three, it also got the highest score for the whole competition.

Toni credits the hours of practice put in by the girls, fitness, stamina and unique choreography, for the success.

The teams also won partially-paid entries to competitions in Australia, Texas and Los Angeles.

The team hopes to compete in the United States next year and its goal is to win a bid to the world championships.

Toni says the biggest hurdle is fundraising, with the trip likely to cost $4500 for each cheerleader.

In 2007 Fantasy Cheerleading fundraisers had nearly $9000 stolen by a mother to fund her gambling habit but Toni says everyone has moved on from the incident.

Extortion never looked this flamboyant.

A toilet, spray-painted pink and decorated with flowers, has recently been making the rounds in front yards across Nevada County.

Homeowners who find the porcelain throne stuck in their yard can choose to pay $10 to have the toilet removed to a friend’s lawn, and an additional $5 to make sure it never appears on their property again.

The gimmick is the design of Bear River sophomore Emily Dyer, a 15-year-old south county resident.

She is participating in a hunger fundraiser sponsored by the youth group at her church, Sierra Presbyterian. She got the toilet from Habitat for Humanity and spray-painted it bright pink.

Dyer’s father transports the toilet from location to location, and so far she’s estimated the plan has raised more than $1,200 since they began in May.

Proceeds from the toilet removal service (victims can opt out if they don’t want to play along) go to an organization called World Vision, which feeds starving children in Africa.

“Hopefully, we’ll keep it going until the end of summer,” said Dyer.

Students in the youth group have been working on a hunger initiative recently, which included a 30-hour fast in order to better understand the effects of hunger, she said.

You can contact the church to find out how to help at (530) 265-3291.

Source: http://www.theunion.com/article/20110701/NEWS/110639974/1001&parentprofile=1053