Last night we returned to Radford High School for another fundraiser. We served fresh popcorn with a variety of toppings, juice and some candy. I'd like to say that it was a mad success and that we made tons of money, but unfortunately we didn't. But, I thought it was important to still blog about it because at the Boys & Girls Club we encourage honesty, learning from challenges, and admitting when we need to improve.We learned that maybe basketball games aren't the best venue because fans aren't allowed to bring food into the gymnasium. We also learned that it's difficult to figure out how to price a fundraiser item--generally speaking, fundraiser treats are more expensive than they might be in a store because it's known that the profit is going to a good cause. However, if you price it too high, no one will buy it anyway! We ended up lowering the price halfway through the night and selling a few more bags. Another thing we realized is that popcorn doesn't really sell well when it's hot outside. We were lucky to have sunshine instead of rain, but most people didn't seem to want a hot treat!
That being said, our LITs still managed to make the night lots of fun. Gabby, our new LIT president, did a great job serving the popcorn to customers all night. Shantae used her skills from the snack bar to work the cash register too. Justice created fun slogans to advertise our treats (Get your pop-pop-popcorn!), and Kawehi and Carla ran through the stands handing out flyers. And when we weren't busy, the kids were practicing catching popcorn in their mouths and just hanging out with each other. At the end of the night when I drove everyone home, feeling somewhat disappointed with the results of the night, I was happy to hear the kids chatting in the back seat saying things like "Tonight was so much fun!" and "Can we do this again!?" It made me realize that the word FUN comes before FUND in fundraising.
Needless to say, if anyone has any great ideas for where we can sell a TON more popcorn in the future, let me know. :)~Natalie, Program Director
