Now that school and student activities are underway in many parts of KELOLAND, it usually means it’s about time for fundraising season to begin.
But this year during the pandemic, some student organizations are getting creative with their fundraisers.
“We do a whole bunch of different fundraisers, last year we did a Krispy Kreme fundraiser and a coupon one,” Harrisburg High School Show Choir Director Ali Hefner said.
It takes a lot of effort from the whole team to get performance-ready each season of Harrisburg’s High School Show Choir.
“We use the money for costumes and equipment,” Hefner said.
The Harrisburg High School Show choir has started rehearsals once again, after doing yet another fundraiser before the school year even started.
“We’re competing against all of the different activities so we have to think of unique things that other clubs and sports haven’t done,” Hefner said.
“I just had an idea and I ran with it,” Show Choir Mom Stacy Haber said. “We wanted it out before anyone else would have the idea and we were able to do that.”
Haber is used to helping with fundraisers, but this year, she came up with a unique sales idea fit for the pandemic.
“I was already thinking about it and when masks became part of the school supply list it seemed like a good way to raise some money,” Haber said.
The show choir’s school mascot masks were all sold online.
“We decided it needed to be something that kids didn’t have to go door to door for,” Hefner said. “It was super slick, they could order the masks online and then we’ll have a pickup day for everyone that ordered the masks to come and get them.”
In all, the two-week period of online sales required little effort from students and their parents, but came with a big payoff.
“My optimistic goal was maybe to break a hundred but we sold over 800 masks and that was very exciting,” Haber said. “We raised between $2,400 and $2,500 for the high school show choir program.”
Many other student organizations across the state are catching on to the masks and other pandemic-related fundraisers, adjusting to the times just like businesses so they can continue to support this year’s activities.
