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Cario Bands Together For Kids
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Our first fundraiser of the year, will kick off in class on Friday, September 5th. We would like your child to contact friends and relatives who cannot participate in our regular fundraisers (like pies, fruit, Spirit Savers, & flowers) and ask them to consider sponsoring your child in several community service projects to be conducted later in the year. These projects include a coat drive in early fall, a children’s book drive in February, and a food drive next spring to benefit disadvantaged children in our area.
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As a sponsored organization, all of our band students agree to actively participate in three community service projects to help our local kids. In the fall, we kick off our service by collecting and donating clean, gently used coats, sweaters, hats, mittens, and sweatshirts for children and young teens. For our second project, we will conduct a children's book drive for MUSC's Childrens' Hospital. New or gently-used children's books will be collected by our students. What a great way to make a hospital stay a little less boring by sharing a favorite book for a child to enjoy reading! Our third project, conducted at the end of the year, will collect non-perishable food items to be given to a local food pantry.
Our first fundraiser of the year will be Letters For Sponsorship. The letters for sponsorship will be personalized and envelopes will be addressed in class by the students on Friday, September 5th. Your child has a form to fill out with names and addresses of potential sponsors. Please return this by Thursday, September 4th, so the letters can be personalized and envelopes addressed. A copy of the letter has been sent home for you to see with an example of the type of personalization your child will want to include on Friday. Each student is asked to provide names and addresses on an Address form that will be sent home. Names and addresses should be for friends and family that would consider sponsoring your student for their participation in the community projects. If you can't find the form in the bottomless pit that they call a book bag, click here and you can print a replacement. The "Address Party" will be held during band class on September 5th.
The Band Boosters will supply form letters with space for a personalized message, stamped envelopes, and, of course, refreshments!! What's a party without refreshments, anyway? The stamped, addressed letters will be collected at the end of each class and mailed at the end of the day. At the completion of the campaign, each participating child will be be provided with a list of their sponsors for hand-delivering or mailing thank-you notes. Receipts will be sent to all sponsors at the end of the year for tax purposes.
A sample form letter requesting sponsorship is available for your review. The letter includes a tear-off section for sponsors to complete with their name, address, and sponsored student and then mail back to the Cario Band Program with their donation. All donations are fully tax-deductible as the Cario Band Booster Club is a 501(c)(3) organization. The contribution total from all of our participating sponsors then goes into our general operating account. This account enables our band program to purchase music, instruments, and recording equipment -- all of those necessary items our band room needs to further our children's musical education.
We are also sending home a magazine packet. QSP sells the magazines for about the cost you can purchase the subscription elsewhere and we get about 40% of the sale for our band operating account. Magazine prizes will be $100 to the Top Seller Overall, $75 1st Place Overall, $50 for 2nd Place Overall, then for every 3 subscriptions sold, students' names will be entered into a drawing for (6) $25 cash prizes. Final magazine turn-ins is Tuesday, September 16th.
We used this approach last year and it was very successful. Although contributions will benefit the Cario Band program, the community will benefit from the drives we conduct; the students will be involved in worthwhile service projects; and sponsors can support our program as well as the community. All monies from this fundraiser will go directly into the band operating account.
Volunteers will be needed throughout the day on September 5th to help with handing out form letters, making sure addresses are legible(!), handing out treats, and collecting letters and envelopes for each class. If you can spare an hour or two or six, contact fundraising@cariobands.org. If you have any questions, contact Alison Wachowski at wachowsk@comcast.net or 884-0929
Thanks for your support of this fundraiser!
Excellence through Music!