Deep River Elementary School’s Student Council has long had a goal to make improvements to the second through fifth grade playground, but finding the right vehicle to raise the needed funds for expensive playground equipment was always a challenge. After much research and looking for the right partner to assist in the organization and receipt of donations, the Council planned the first “Fun Run at the River.” Their initial effort was hugely successful, raising more than $18,300 in the first year.
Staff facilitators Laura Thomas, JoAnn Lawler, and Elizabeth Price described the process that went into getting the Fun Run at the River off the ground in a letter. They detailed that a fun run had been discussed for some time, but finding the right platform for raising the funds proved problematic.
“We hesitated so long because we wanted to avoid sharing our families' hard-earned money with programs that take huge cuts from the profit for service fees,” the three said. “After researching companies, we were able to find an online platform that charged a reasonable fee to collect credit card and PayPal donations while still helping us track cash donations without additional fees.”
Deep River’s Student Council was created in 2017 with the goal of providing student leadership opportunities for students dedicated to serving both the school and their community. Additionally, organizers hoped that the group would help foster healthy student/faculty relationships, increase school morale and student involvement while providing students a forum to express themselves within their school community.
The Student Council exceeded their fund goal not once, but three different times on the way to the event. Beyond purchasing some new playground equipment, the Student Council also wanted to provide resource teachers with a little extra spending money for Art, Media, Music, PE, and World Language. Thanks to the generosity of the Deep River community and students' hard work, each resource teacher will have approximately $1200 available to them to purchase materials, supplies, and the like for their specific program.
“We cannot thank the families of Deep River enough for looking long-term and investing in the children’s future here at the River!” said Thomas, Lawler, and Price in their letter. They added, “Next year, we are looking to add some color and even more fun to our day in the sun.”
