Hilarious Letter From PTA Speaks the Truth
This form, from a Texas middle school, has plenty of parents wishing their schools would adopt the same approach. (Photo: Facebook/Dee Wise Heinz)
A PTA fundraiser handout from one Texas school has been making the rounds online for its newfound approach to the classic school bake sales, wrapping-paper drives, and fun runs.
On Tuesday, Rockwell mom Dee Heinz posted a photo of a form that her son, a seventh grader, brought home this week. Heinz blocked out the name of the school, but the form promoted the PTA’s “alternate fundraiser,” explaining: “This fundraiser is in lieu of sending students home with the task of selling door-to-door, collecting money, and delivering goods. Please help us avoid that by supporting our PTA with your donation, and helping us achieve our goals to support our students and faculty.”
The form goes on to offer donation options from $15 to $100, each with a witty caption explaining what the money might have been used for if the school had gone the traditional fundraising route. For $15: “I do not want to bake, so here is the money I would have spent on those cupcakes.” $50: “I do not want to walk, swim, or run in any activity that has the word ‘thon’ in it. Here is the money I would have spend on my child’s ‘free’ T-shirt.” And $100: “I really wouldn’t have helped anyway, so here is $100 to forget my name.”
On her post, Heinz wrote, “I love that our school PTA has a great sense of humor.” And plenty of users were with her. The post has been shared more than 165,000 times, with commenters mostly in total agreement. “Our schools SO need to get on board with this! Having 4 in school this year I would gladly just donate!” wrote one mom. Another wrote, “This should be for all schools everywhere!”
Heinz explained on her Facebook page, “I’m all about helping out at the schools and supporting my children but when you have 3 kids in school who are also doing extracurricular activities as well, sometimes even one ‘simple’ fundraiser is just more than I can tackle. It’s never that simple, and in our house, it’s never just one. I loved their sense of humor, obviously coming from parents who’ve been there-done that, and they understand.”
Though Heinz didn’t respond to Yahoo Parenting’s request for comment, she told CNN on Thursday that while she understands the value of the various school initiatives, this handout was a welcome change. “Fundraisers serve a purpose, and I’d never want to diminish that,” she said. “But for us, this is the better option. Time is valuable, too.”
As for fundraisers teaching students responsibility, Heinz told CNN there are other ways. “They learn responsibility from making sure their homework is completed, or through extracurriculars like playing sports and being part of team,” she said. “They’re not lacking in opportunities to learn responsibility, and there’s only so many hours in a day that you can commit to activities.”
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