Saturday I did a walkathon with Beth which seemed like an odd thing for Beth to do until I discovered she was doing it because she was on the organization’s board. I knew there had to be an ulterior motive there but it didn’t matter because I got to go for a walk and eat lunch in a restaurant without Sam. It’s amazing what qualifies as exciting when you’ve got a young kid.
Then on Sat. night we went to a fundraising dinner, this time because Ben is on the organization committee. The dinner that was to be served “Promptly at 6:00” turned into “late at 6:45” and that made Sam very grumpy. The distraction of throwing little plastic ducks into a box lasted all of five minutes, tossing them off the deck and retrieving them from the ground lasted another five. Trying to keep his hands off the auction and raffle items was a 10 minute activity and with all the spare time I took him outside with the smokers where he tried to climb up a flagpole and spent some times rolling trashcans across the grass as though he was a raccoon looking for dinner.
I have to admit that I don’t understand the appeal of these fundraisers. This one was for Ducks Unlimited, a wetlands conservation organization that’s supported by lots of duck hunters. There are games -- $10 for a yatzee game where based on your roll, you win a chance to win a kayak. Auctions for all sorts of artwork you’d never want in your house: dogs with dead ducks in their mouths, ducks in peril (aka being hunted), and breakable duck sculptures. They were also having a duck band contest where for $25 you picked a band number and if you won, you got a couple of guns and a diamond bracelet (I’m sure there must have been a DU logo on it somewhere) for your woman.
I know I’m not the target audience for these things but I’m guessing the point of these events is to get together a bunch of people who like to hunt, let them gossip about their conquests and plans for future conquests, and gawk at the latest and greatest equipment. I believe these could be accomplished without the logo merchandise and the games. There were at least 200 people there so if each person just straight out donated $10 they’d have made the same $2000 they did with this event. If they wanted to get a bit fancier, they could set up a cash bar, a few appetizers, and have a get together where a couple of local shops bring out the latest and greatest outdoor stuff to sell to the gullible hunters. The time they’d save if they didn’t need to raffle and auction all that useless stuff!
Or maybe I’m just not the target audience for these events.
And I won't even get into the stuff that Sam is supposed to sell as fundraising stuff for his DAYCARE!
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3 comments:
Kelly and Cindy love these things and win all sorts of stuff at them. They have numerous pictures of ducks, etc on their walls and really like them so I guess to each his own. They have also won several rifles. I don't know about diamonds for Cindy though. I think most of the stuff was won through the NRA banquet in Miles City buy I know Ducks Unlimited figures in there too.
When Lukas and Abbie were in daycare, I never sold any of the stuff that the Y wanted us to sell. (sheesh, I was already paying out half my income to them, why should I also WORK for them) Sometimes I would give them $10 or $20 instead, figuring that was probably more than they would have made if I had sold anything, like when they were raising money for a new playground.
I don't mind the fundraiser for Luke's baseball team so much (cookie dough...what's not to like?), because the intial fee that you pay for baseball is so low, so low income kids, of which there are plenty around here, can afford to play too. I know the selling of the cookie dough helps to subsidize the too low signup fee. Plus, people are happy to buy cookie dough.
So Anne, whenever you have to go to one of these functions, just remind yourself of all the low income duck hunters you are helping! ;-)
I wouldn't say that I had an ulterior motive for doing the AIDS walk, since there is no requirement that board members participate, and I saw only one other member there. BUT being on the board certainly is how I FOUND OUT about the walk, since the advertising was fairly pitiful!
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