Fundraising Opportunities

We are very excited about our Fundraising opportunities for the 2009-2010 school year. Please help us to keep our registration fees down by participating in these fundraisers. If you would like to help with any of these, please email Jennifer Tarantello, our Fundraiser Coordinator.

Links to items on this page:

Free Online Games
Melaleuca
Kroger
Food City
Help Us While Shopping Online
Boxtops 4 Education
Tyson Labels
Why We Have Fundraisers

Update on Fundraisers

Thursday Connection wants to give you an update on our fundraisers.

Last year, we raised 6500 dollars on coupon books. This year we have raised just under 3000. As you can see this is a huge decrease.

Last year, we raised 6600 in the Silent Auction. This year, we are really running low on donations and really need a strong rally over the next 2 weeks to be able to come close to this number.

What this means for each of you is a strong possibility that registration fees will increase. Last year, we used 50% of our fundraising profits for general operating expenses. Our operating expenses include rent; salaries for administration; general supplies for office operation and cleaning; equipment such as laptops for administrative use, badge equipment, projectors, tables, chairs, etc.

We also will have a shortfall in our insurance fees this year. We found out early in the year that our insurance rates will approximately triple over last year. This means that we did not collect enough insurance fees from each family. We are currently evaluating whether or not we need to collect an additional insurance fee for the winter term.

As you can see, your support of our fundraisers is absolutely essential if we are to keep our general fees at the low rate they have been for the past several years. Please consider how your family can support the auction.

If you have any ideas for fundraisers that you would be willing to help out with , please let us know.

If we are to keep our fees down for the spring semester, it is crucial that we have a successful silent auction. We need every single family to help.

We are asking each family to bring in at least one gift certificate that can be auctioned off. This is so easy to do! The next time you are getting your hair cut, or you're at the dry cleaners, or eating at a restaurant, ask them if they will make a donation to the silent auction. They will almost always say yes. Tell them what great advertising it will be for their company. Everywhere you go, ask them for a donation!! They are more likely to say yes to you because you are a customer.

Do you own a business? Does a family member or neighbor own a business? Ask them to donate products or services. It helps our co-op and gives them great advertising.

Another great way to contribute is to bring in gently used items you no longer need. We all receive gifts that are still sitting in a box somewhere in our house. Those items might be treasures to someone else!! Bring them in so we can auction them off.

Finally, talk to Dawn about donating a basket. Last year these were a huge hit! She has done the work of thinking up the different baskets and what should go in them. She just needs people to purchase the items and put them in a basket or bowl. If you can't afford to do it on your own, ask a friend to share the cost with you.

Last year most people waited until the last minute to bring items in. Please take the time to do this now and bring the items in on Oct 22 when co-op meets again.

If every family makes 1 donation, we will have a successful auction. Please don't assume everyone else will take care of this!! Everyone must participate for this to work.

Thank you, Jennifer Tarantello

Play FREE Online Games, Earn Donations for Thursday Connection

Here's a fun and easy way to help raise funds for Thursday Connection by playing free online games. This is a great way to raise funds-it costs you absolutely nothing and you get to play some fun games in the process!

Start by going to: http://club.live.com/Pages/Home/HomePage.aspx.

Use your login and password for your Windows Live account (such as a hotmail email account).

If you don't already have a Windows Live account, you can quickly and easily create one at the Join or Sign In page.

Once you've signed in, you are ready to start playing the games of your choice. For each game you complete, you are awarded tickets which you can redeem for prizes OR you can donate them to Thursday Connection. If you choose to donate them to Thursday Connection, Microsoft will send us a check once a year for the total amount donated.

In order to donate your tickets to Thursday Connection, Under My Account, click on "Redeem My Tickets."

Then, on the Prizes page, choose "Give Tickets to Charity."

Next, on the Give Tickets to Charity page, choose "Redeem."

Then, on the Redemption page, Step 1 is where you will choose the number of tickets you want to donate.

Step 2 is where you select the charity or school you want to donate your tickets to. Thursday Connection is listed under the "Charity" tab. Just type in Thursday Connection as your "Search for a name or key word" and click on "Show Results." You will only have to search for Thursday Connection the first time; after that it will automatically show up in the results area.

Select Thursday Connection in the Search results area. Then click "Next Step" at the bottom of the page.

On the next page you will confirm your donation.

That's all there is to it! Log in, play some fun games, and donate your tickets. It's simple and fun! And it benefits YOUR children at Thursday Connection!

Back To Top

Melaleuca Fund Raiser

You can support TC by just changing stores and shopping with Melaleuca, a wellness company with excellent nontoxic cleaning products, make-up and more. Contact Jodie Moore at jodie@saferforyourhome.com or Ellen Kimball at kimballs@iol24.com for more information.

Back To Top

Kroger

Please register your Kroger shoppers card and each time you buy qualifying products Thursday Connection earns money. Just use the link below to register!

www.elabelsforeducation.com 

Thanks! 

Back To Top

Food City Incentive Program

The new Food City School Bucks program is here.

We've attempted to make it as simple as possible to shop, scan and support your school through the School Bucks program.

As a registered ValuCard shopper, each time you shop at Food City using your Food City ValuCard, you can earn points for Thursday Connection. The points are simple; each time you purchase $10 in a single transaction of Food City Qualifying Brands, you earn one point for Thursday Connection. The points you earn will help Thursday Connection grow their share of the $600,000 total that Food City will present to participating schools in May 2010.

Just shop, scan and save to support Thursday Connection!

Simply go to the SCHOOL BUCKS LOGIN page at: www.foodcity.com/schoolbucks/signup/ 

With the information below, login under REGISTERED SCHOOLS.

SCHOOL BUCKS LOGIN
School ID Number/Username: 40771
Password: 40771

OR

Pick up a copy of the Food City letter (or download it here) that has our Special barcode on it, and take it to Food City next time you shop. The cashier will scan the bar code to connect your purchases with your ValuCard to give Thursday Connection credit. These letters will be available this Thursday at co-op on the information table.

Thanks for Supporting Thursday Connection!!

Back To Top

Help Us While Shopping Online

This is a great way to help Thursday Connection if you are shopping online! Shop online and earn cash for our school. How to earn through the Box Tops Marketplace(SM). Make a difference every time you shop online. Just start at the Box Tops Marketplace!(SM).

Visit www.btfe.com for more great ideas to earn cash for our school!

1. Sign Up Online
Sign up at the Box Tops website (www.btfe.com) to support our school and see where to shop at over 70 retail stores who help support us!

2. Shop Online
Shop online at the Box Tops Marketplace(SM). Choose from quality stores such as JCPenney, Lands’ End and OfficeMax.

3. Our School Earns Cash
Up to 8% of your purchase will be automatically donated back to our school, up to $20,000 each year, with no additional cost to you. Over 70 popular online stores partner with Box Tops to help our school earn the extra cash it needs.

Go to the Box Tops Marketplace(SM) and shop at your favorite online store. When you make a purchase up to 8% of that purchase will be automatically donated back to our school. What could be easier?

Go to www.btfe.com/marketplace to shop and earn today!

http://www.boxtops4education.com/Marketplace 

Back To Top

Box Tops For Education, Campbell's Soup, Pepperidge Farms  and Swanson's Labels

PLEASE REMEMBER TO BRING IN BOX TOPS AND CAMPBELL’S LABELS.

IF EVERY CHILD COLLECTED 10 BOX TOPS WE WOULD HAVE $350 FOR THURSDAY CONNECTION!!!

THEY CAN BE PLACED IN THE CAMPBELL’S SOUP BIN IN THE ENTRY!

To see a list of participating BOX TOP products go to www.boxtops4education.com 

Please collect and bring to co-op your Box Tops For Education, Campbell’s Soup, Pepperidge Farms and Swanson's  Labels for Education. 

Hey all! One great way we can earn easy money is through the Box Tops For Education program. These labels are located on hundreds of food items that we all eat. All you have to do is cut them out and bring them to Thursday Connection. There is a large Campbell’s soup can now located in the front by the scanner. You can drop both the Box tops and the Campbell’s soup labels off in this bin. 

Thanks for helping us keep fees low!

Box Tops Booster Club

You can help earn extra money for Thursday Connection by signing up and encouraging parents, family and friends to participate in the Box Tops Booster Club. For each person that will sign up to receive their reminder emails we get 5 points which is really $0.50. While that might not seem like a lot if we all signed up it would add up! And when you sign up they give you a set of coupons for their products. Once signed up, there are exclusive opportunities to earn cash for Thursday Connection, plus money-saving coupons and get great ideas for today's busy family life. Membership is free! For a chance to win 10,000 Box Tops (equivalent to $1,000) for your school, sign up today.

Back To Top

Tyson's Foods A+ Labels

Thursday Connection is registered for a program offered by Tyson foods, saving symbols from their chicken products for redemption to benefit our school. Look for the A+ symbol on Tyson frozen chicken products and deli meat. Each one may be redeemed for $.24 apiece. That could really add up for Thursday Connection. For a complete list of products check out http://www.tyson.com/projectaplus/. 

Back To Top

Why do we have fundraisers?

We’ve had a lot of questions about the fundraisers that we do. Many of you wonder why we have fundraisers. I’m so glad that you are asking!

The tuition that you pay covers the teacher’s pay and the materials fees cover all consumable supplies that your child uses in class. We actually audit the materials fees by having the teachers turn in receipts, and comparing their totals with what they are charging for materials—you’d be surprised at how much stuff costs.

There are a lot of large items that the co-op must pay for out of pocket in order to have good classes—microscopes, science equipment like scales, beakers, burners, etc. We have to purchase laptops, printers, ink, paper, and supplies for the childcare room. We try to purchase at least one large item from the fall fundraisers, and this year, we will be purchasing a projector that will connect to a laptop to allow the teachers to use the internet in the classroom. This will primarily be used by Mrs. Migas in art each week, but there will be other teachers who will use it as well. In addition to these purchases, we pay rent on the facilities to cover some of the expenses such as wear and tear on the building, utilities, supplies such as cleaners, toilet paper, and paper towels. While the church gives us a good deal as far as rent goes, we still pay several thousand a year.

Last Spring, the board voted to put Mary and Wendy on “payroll.” The two of us, on a good week with no big things going on (like registration, crisis, etc), have documented at least 20 hours per week on a consistent basis (even during the summer.) During registration periods, tax times, periods when there might be a crisis going on, it is not unusual for us to put in many more hours than that. Our “pay” is very conservative, but does help cover classes for our children. If we didn’t have fundraisers, either we would have to raise fees (yes, we know they are already a stretch for most of us,) or go bankrupt. I hope this explanation helps you to understand why we try so hard to get folks involved in fundraisers. If each family would embrace at least one fundraiser a year, this would be so much easier for us.

We also have a vision for Thursday Connection to eventually have our own building. This is a dream, but a possible one. It will actually be a building for the entire home school community to use. We have several ways we’re looking into making this happen. Please pray for God’s leadership in this endeavor.

The funds brought in by folks “buying” their shifts are used to hire consistent workers in the childcare and break rooms, so that we have folks in there who can get to know the kids. We feel this provides a safer environment. We also use this money to hire folks to fill in the holes left after everyone signs up.

Back To Top

  Can't find what you're looking for? Check the Site Map!

If you have questions for our Administrator, email mary@thursdayconnection.org.

If you have questions about Registration or Tuition, email wendy@thursdayconnection.org.

If you are new to Thursday Connection and have questions, email ellen@thursdayconnection.org.

Questions, Comments or Suggestions about the website may be emailed to webmaster@thursdayconnection.org.

Website and all content Copyright © 2006-2007 Thursday Connection Home Schoolers' Cooperative