This morning I got an interesting email. It was a fundraising email, sent on behalf of my good friend's six-year-old son, selling gift wrap and chocolates to raise money for his elementary school.
My first thought was "Oh how cool! What a neat way to tap into the power of the internet and reach out to friends and relatives to help with your fundraising campaign. And it's so EASY -- no orders to take or deliveries to make, and the customer can take as long as he or she wants to pick out items."
But then another thought entered my mind. And it started something like "Boy, when *I* was a kid...."
Yep, when I was a kid, we did it "the old-fashioned way"... walked door to door to take orders (uphill both ways, of course). We didn't have no fancy-shmancy internet to do the work for us!
Seriously, though, while I love all the ways the internet has made our lives easier, there is still something to be said for door-to-door fundraising. It teaches kids social interaction, gives them self-confidence, and teaches them to handle rejection. It builds character, dammit! It also puts a FACE with the solicitation request. I mean I'm much happier to shell out $3.50 for a "single-serving" box of girl scout cookies when I see the friendly and enthusiastic smile of the girl I'm helping out.
On the other hand, I guess at six years old my friend's son is a bit too young to be out selling door-to-door, even if his mom went along. And does mom really have the time to tag along? Even with older kids, do you really want them going out door-to-door with all those pedophiles out there? And for the customer, would you rather support some random neighborhood kid who comes to your door (and how do you know they're really from your neighborhood?), or someone you actually know?
So I guess I'm on the fence about this one. I guess using the internet for school fundraising makes sense -- it's a safe and efficient way to contact people you know, especially those who live outside of your immediate area. And I'm sure kids will still be going door-to-door to solicit their neighbors, since they don't have email addresses for everyone! I just hope I don't start getting flooded with email fundraising solicitations in the future, and I hope email solicitation doesn't completely replace that character-building experience of trudging through the rain and snow just to have your hopes and dreams shattered by the mean old man at the end of the block!
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2 comments:
I remember one time when I was in Girl Scouts, I had pneumonia during "Girl Scout Cookie Time". Having the Internet would have been great, because I missed out on a lot of neighbors who would have otherwise purchased from me rather than some other girls that they ended up buying from! *sigh* That was a rough one for me!
Take heart - Girl Scout Cookies are still sold door to door. Most of the schools down here do the internet thing now, and it's great for family who lives out of town, or for me (who never carries cash). Besides, my apartment complex has a strict "no solicitation" rule, and the cranky old people are likely to call the office and complain about kids going door to door selling stuff.
c'est la vie!
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