| Charity Case | Today's Parent - September, 1999 | |
There’s an unwritten rule in my neighbourhood: I sponsor your child this week in the Skip-a-thon, and you’ll sponsor mine in next week’s cookie drive. Over the years I’ve bought countless orders of wrapping paper, cheese, tea, Christmas ornaments and frozen cookie dough, not to mention those omni-present chocolate bars.
Deep down, I know fundraisers are a necessary evil. But I still can’t help shudder every time I spy another beaming youngster marching determinedly up my walk, sponsor sheet in hand. With those pleading eyes and carefully rehearsed sales pitch, they can usually persuade me to sign up, yet again. After all, new playground equipment, uniforms and library books are all worthy causes.
But lately there’s been a trend connected to some of these fundraisers that I find objectionable. It’s those annoying play-with-it-for-an-hour-then-abandon-it-under-the-couch, junky little prizes that are being handed out as rewards for the children’s fundraising efforts. With this reward system, the size (but not always the quality) of the prize increases in direct proportion to the amount of money the child raises, or merchandise they manage to sell.
Somehow the objectives have gone from “All right, I raised $50 for our school!” to “Hey I sold enough to get this cool laser pistol”. With the additional of these incentive programs, a commendable goal, such as raising funds for Third World famine relief, becomes totally incidental to vying for the best prize.
And as if these trashy trinkets weren’t bad enough, on several occasions my children’s school has even stooped to doling out monetary rewards.
Who came up with this misguided notion of awarding prizes to kids for their fund-raising work? I thought their sole objective was whatever was listed on the raffle ticket or sponsor sheet. “All funds raised go towards… new band uniforms, the food bank, a class trip etc”. That one thing is supposed to be the ultimate reward for all that door-to-door canvassing and harassment of relatives, not some junky little prize or bit of cash.
Besides, handing out toys or toonies as extra rewards for their efforts, totally negates the idea of doing something purely out of a sense of goodwill and generosity.
At one point all three of my children were in the same school system, which meant we had three pint-sized salespeople, a seemingly endless parade of fundraisers, and one very limited pool of potential contributors. With each child eagerly eyeing the prize chart, it didn’t take long for the bickering to begin. Their arguments over sales territories and pilfered points soon totally overshadowed the true goal of their supposed charitable act.
Eventually I got wise and called a halt to participating in any fundraiser that fostered this “what’s-in-it-for-me” attitude by offering these kiddie kickbacks. These days when we do take part in a fundraiser, my kids practice their sales pitch before they lug their wares around the neighbourhood. “Would you like to buy a chocolate bar to help raise money for my school’s science program?” Hopefully every time they repeat this mantra, the children will be reminding themselves of just exactly why they’re out there pounding the pavement.
Charity work is not an easy concept for kids to grasp. Try explaining to a six-year old that sorry, no, he can’t eat all those chocolate bars, and no, he doesn’t get to keep any of the money either. The idea of doing all that work just out of the goodness of one’s heart takes some getting used to.
Therefore it’s important for kids to witness real acts of charity, whether it’s Grandma canvassing for Heart and Stroke, or Mom donating a pint of blood. After tagging along with their Dad and helping out when he worked a few Rotary Club fundraisers, our oldest two seem to understand that some things you just do, willingly and without pay, for a good cause.
So why not view all these fundraisers as an opportunity to introduce youngsters to their altruistic side. But, start these budding philanthropists off in the right frame of mind; eliminate the prize schedules and sales gimmicks. Remind them that when they take up a worthy cause, their hard work is always appreciated, but that often the sole reward for their efforts will be a pat on the back and the simple satisfaction of knowing they’ve done something good.
I’d like to think that when my children extend a helping hand, they’ll be doing it out of a sense of goodwill and generosity, and not with the expectation that their palms will be crossed with a couple of bucks.