THE SAME ONLY DIFFERENT: Pandemic changes club fundraising and procedures

Robin Franklin, Editor in Chief|December 18, 2020

  With the rash of Covid-19 cases growing, clubs and organizations have been tasked with finding another way to complete fundraising projects. 

  For instance, Art Club had to come up with another way to fund its field trips.

  “We usually hand out candy at Halloween or face paint at the Wigwam Midway, but we couldn’t this year,” art teacher Brice Autry said. “We don’t know for sure what we are going to do yet, but Ms. Garcia shipped us a lot of unheated ceramics that we can heat up and decorate to try and sell.”

  Career Prep SkillsUSA cancelled its annual holiday fruit sale.

  “Ms. Fleming sent me everything we needed to start our fruit sale, but due to Covid, I decided to stop the sale,” SkillsUSa sponsor Sarai Trevino said. “We have no other fundraising plans at the moment, and I’m not sure if we will have any other plans.”

  Band, choir and Cosmetology SkillsUSA had to change the way they ran the concession stand at football games.

  “We couldn’t sell a lot of things like hot chocolate, coffee, popcorn, nachos or Frito pie,” SkillsUSA sponsor Dar’Lynda Davis said. “We only sold prepackaged items like candy and drinks. It was really hard.”

  FFA didn’t have its annual meat sale and struggled to find other options due to a busy schedule.

  “If we do a fundraiser this year, it would be a ways out because we just finished Leadership Development Events season and are trying to prepare for the district banquet since Zoee (Nolen) is a district officer, and I’m an area officer,” FFA senior Delaney Brown said. “Plus, we’re going directly into show and Career Development Events season after that. So now that fundraising is cancelled, it’s not a top priority.”

  While fundraising was used by several organizations to fund contest travel, the pandemic also forced competitions to go online, so travel funds were no longer needed. The choir, however, is still raising money for its spring trip.

  “We are still fundraising for our biannual trip with brochure fundraisers, but instead of going door to door, we advised the students to sell only to their friends and family,” choir Director Eric Hindman said. “Everything we sell is prepackaged so that it’s safe. I want us to go on this trip because these kids work hard and these trips are always a blast.”