Fundraising Success for our Students

The Human Race walk occurred on May 11th...it was a great day for the nearly 100 CalSERVES AmeriCorps members, staff members, and friends and family who participated.

We have now completed our Human Race fundraiser and raised nearly $14,000 to purchase books and supplies for over 1,000 wonderful students.  I wanted to take some time to recognize those that worked hard and achieved milestones in their fundraising.

The honor roll includes those individuals who raised over:

$100 :

• Sandra Hwang (office)
• Kathy Chosa (office)
• Lauren Serpa (office)
• Mimi Marrocco (office)
• Megan Schuttler (office)
• Francesca Soriano-Hersh (office)
• Megan Cockrum (Bellevue)
• Aidan Collins Smith (Kawana)
• Rebecca Dunckley (Kawana)
• Ashley Schalich (Meadow View)
• Kate Briggs (Meadow View)
• Nightsnow Vogt (Meadow View)
• Sarah Gold (RL Stevens)
• Diana Sharkawy (RL Stevens)
• Stephanie Martin (RL Stevens)
• Melissa Moore (RL Stevens)
• Amanda Houlemard (Taylor Mountain)
• Ariel Moreo (Wright)
• Lauren Loeffler (Wright)

$250:

• Carmen Wandel (office)
• Sara Sitch (office)

• Alejandro Tinajero (Bellevue)
• Joshua Bettencourt (Bellevue)
• Ashley Fike (Meadow View)
• Megan Simon (Meadow View)
• Elena Bermudez (Meadow View)
• Allison Hunter (RL Stevens)
• Hanh Tran (RL Stevens)
• Laura Fromuth (Taylor Mountain)
• Yesenia Mendez Silva (Wright)

 $500:

• Katie McCormick (office)
•  Sara Craige (Bellevue)

• Carmen Hernandez-Albor (Bellevue)
• Ana Hernandez (RL Stevens)

Over $1000:

• Me!

And the Site Teams that raised over:

$1000:

• Meadow View
• RL Stevens
• Wright

$2000:

• Bellevue
• Office

All those who raised over $100 got a book set for their site.  This was the book set I won...all about Trucks!

I had fun taking them to Taylor Mountain and giving it to their team to put into rotation with their students this year and beyond.

 

Those who raised over $250 got year-end parties for their students!

Students from all of our schools enjoyed getting their books to take home for the summer!

  

    

A giant Thank You to everyone who participated and who donated.

Fundraising for the Human Race

Every year our organization participates in the Human Race, an event run by the Volunteer Center of Sonoma County, that enables hundreds of non-profit and educational organizations the opportunity to fund raise for their cause. 

CalSERVES at the Human Race 2012

This year we are exploring some new strategies that build upon what was successful in previous years.  Check out my blog from last year to read about my Top 10 fund raising ideas.

Teams
Because we are fairly large organization, we focus quite a bit on teams. We provide recognition for team achievements as well as individual successes.  We encourage teams to work together to come up with both their own strategies and their own incentives.  Our schools make up their own teams and are able to make incentives (ex. extra planning time) and group strategies (ex. recycling program, bake sale) that are specifically meaningful to their group.

Benchmarks
In previous years, we have always given prizes for top fund raisers.  This year, we are also giving prizes for achieving certain levels.  That way, those who may feel like they cannot compete to be the highest fund raiser, still have levels to something to shoot for...and who knows, once they get started they may reach the top!

Meaningful Recognition

It is difficult to raise funds in this economy.  We celebrate and honor those who put the time and energy into supporting our cause.  We have a "Wall of Fame" in our office to honor those individuals and groups who have achieved benchmark levels.  We have a special recognition lunch that I host to honor those who have raised $250 or more.  We post the accomplishments of those who fund raise in our social media which is a great way to expand your reach as friends and family of those high achieving fund raisers will check out those posts.  For our group, we provide incentives that are both personal (ex. 1 hour massage) and meaningful (ex. a set of books for the students).  When the prize is for the students or school, we make it clear that it came because of that person's achievements (ex. book plates recognizing the fund raiser).

Unique Fund Raising Ideas

We encourage any and all ideas to promote the Human Race and raise funds for our students.  Many of our strategies are home grown and offer an easy way for all to participate.  Here is a list of strategies that have been successful over the years:  bake sales, car washes, providing a service (photography, flower arranging, etc.), art sales (including children's art), lunch delivery, dine and donates, corporate sponsorships, matching donors, and much more

Jump Start Strategies

Every year some teams get a slow start.  There is a lot going on in our program and in peoples' lives, so we try to give incentives to start early.  We give out our first prizes about 6 weeks prior to the event.  We also send out committee members to work with sites who are struggling on developing fund raising ideas.  To motivate their team, some team leaders will split the donation they intended to give among their team to give their members that important start and some success to build on. 

These strategies and more will hopefully lead our organization to its goal of $15,000 and me personally to my goal of more than $1,000.  If you would like to help me, my Human Race web site is accepting donations:

http://www.humanracenow.org/goto/JMcClure

Bellevue District Soars into Spring

Bellevue District includes Bellevue Elementary, Kawana Charter, Meadow View Elementary and Taylor Mountain Elementary Schools.  Staff and tutors of Bellevue's CalSERVES programs have a lot to be proud about.

Just through February in the Bellevue District:

• 510 Students have received academic support, enrichment programming and mentoring in the CalSERVES After School program
• 596 Students have received 16,219 Tutoring Sessions in Literacy,  STEM, and Healthy Behaviors

Assessments show students already improving 1 whole grade level or more:

• 39% of students receiving Science, Tech, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Tutoring
• 22% of students receiving Literacy Tutoring
• 59% of students receiving Healthy Behaviors Tutoring

Bellevue Elementary

Mr. Sosa, Bellevue's Healthy Behaviors Scholar, has done a fantastic job in increasing fruit and veggie consumption during the After School Program.  One particular aspect that Mr. Sosa has improved is the overall consumption of milk by students.

Each day the students look forward to snack because they know Mr. Sosa is always ready to greet every child as they pass by and pick-up their snack. "Remember to drink your milk!" he says and the children simply smile and do just that, they drink their milk!

Kawana Charter

These STEM tutoring students get their hands in peanut butter to learn all about tectonic plates.  Science is fun, especially when it is hands-on!

New STEM Scholar Celeste gets ready to teach her students how to use a microscope.

Meadow View Elementary

Fitness Week isn’t the only time Meadow View after school students enjoy physical activity. This January, they started new fitness classes. Classroom Leaders pick a sport or physical activity they are passionate about and lead a six-week fitness class with a consistent group of students. 

This has been highly successful. Students have responded well to the consistency and structure, and Classroom Leaders have enjoyed building on activities week after week. This was especially successful with our Cool Sports Basketball Team, which had regular practices twice a week. Our 3-6 grade boys really blossomed during the month before the competition. Under the guidance of their fantastic coaches, these students became a truly cohesive team. 

Taylor Mountain Elementary

Healthy behaviors are learned early as demonstrated by these Kinder students practicing their yoga poses increasing their focus, flexibility and strength.

Taylor Mountain students get a hands-on experience with fire prevention when the fire department visited...the hats were a popular bonus!

Leadership
As you can see the Site Supervisors of the Bellevue District are inspiring their teams to promote wellness and learning in their students (Yesenia, Kate, Sandra & Katherine).