Last year our guidance counselor came up to me in the hallway with a problem. Every day a number of students pick up brown bag lunches because they don’t have enough to eat at home. I found out that number had gone up significantly in our school and we could not meet the demand. “Could Leadership do some kind of fundraiser?” I then remembered an idea I learned from Neepawa Collegiate in Manitoba. Delay The Day – each class was given a $ goal. For every dollar raised they got a minute off of class. Raise enough money and you get the whole class off.
So as all good Leadership programs do Centennial copied and modified their idea. If a class raised the equivalent of $4 per person they got the first class in the morning off the last day before Christmas break. Students could sleep in or join us for Timbits, hot chocolate, and Christmas music in the cafeteria. Each teacher had a rep from Leadership who worked with them and their class to meet the goal. Our whole school promotion campaign focused on two things:
- Why there is a need – Coyotes helping Coyotes
- You get to sleep in!
In the past our food drives and other Christmas season charity efforts were falling flat.
Delay the Day was a big success. Over half of the classes met the goal and got to sleep in. We raised $4500 to keep feeding hungry kids at Centennial.
Leadership Lessons I learned:
Don’t reinvent the wheel – find good ideas from others and copy or modify them.
Combine the Why with Fun – we have a need at Centennial – you can help – and you get to sleep in! You need both to be successful
Leadership Activity Idea: BINGO!!
We bought a Bingo kit with a proper wheel and dabbers. We set up the upper cafeteria and invited everyone who wanted to play. We had some old swag from our store and food prizes. The first person to get Bingo claims a prize. We kept going until all the prizes were gone. It was a big hit and easy to run. This will become a regular feature at Centennial. Here is the link to the kit we ordered from Amazon. https://www.amazon.ca/Royal-Bingo-Supplies-Jumbo-Cards/dp/B00FXMG4NW/ref=sr_1_7?crid=318PYI0593C3T&dchild=1&keywords=bingo+game+set&qid=1574299019&sprefix=bingo%2Caps%2C230&sr=8-7
Go to Instagram @chscoyote for more pics
Good Luck
Brent Dickson 