WOOLWICH — Like many other parent-teacher associations, Woolwich Central School PTA once sent its students door-to-door to sell catalogs in order to raise money. Now, they’re trying a different method, and raised enough money in one evening to eliminate the need for other fundraisers.

Taking the inspiration from the NBC sports entertainment show “American Ninja Warrior,” the Woolwich PTA‘s own obstacle course is all it took for the students of Woolwich Central School to raise $15,000.

At 5 p.m. Friday, students will compete in the Woolwich Warrior Challenge, an obstacle course organized by the PTA that involves crawling under netting, jumping over hay bales and flipping tires. 

Cara Kilton, president of the PTA, said the idea for the fundraiser stemmed from the PTA’s frustration over catalog fundraisers. The group disliked the fact that only a small portion of the profits went back to the school.

The Christian Science Monitor reports that “schools only keep a portion of what they sell – 42 percent on average, according to the Association of Fund-Raising Distributors and Suppliers,” when raising money through catalog sales. The Monitor cites that statistic as a reason some schools across the nation are changing the way they fundraise.

Last year was the first year Woolwich stepped away from catalog fundraisers. The PTA organized a “Harvest Hustle” event, an earlier version of the obstacle course. The PTA set a goal of raising $7,500, but ended up raising $12,000, which is enough to fund the school’s PTA budget for two years. 

“It was so much more successful than anyone thought it would be,” said Kilton.

Kilton said the PTA used to organize six fundraisers per year in order to fill its annual budget, which funds everything from school supplies to field trips. 

Kilton said she wanted all the money raised to go directly back into the school. To achieve this, local businesses could adopt a classroom for $100. The money local business donated was used to purchase materials for the obstacle course, as well as the small prizes students earned for reaching various personal fundraising thresholds. 

“We’ve been looking for ways to work smarter, not harder, and use our volunteer base without exhausting them,” said Kilton. “We kept seeing our volunteer rate decline, not because parents don’t love their kids, but because they’re tired.”

Kilton said the obstacle course serves as a better fundraising alternative because it’s an opportunity for families to have fun and spend time together without the pressure to purchase unwanted items. 

According to Lindsey Goundreau, communications specialist for Regional School Unit 1, 120 of the school’s 368 students have registered for the event, and 93 have submitted donations. 

Bella Bachman, 9, said she’s excited to participate in the obstacle course because “I have always admired the Ninja Warriors and I’ve always wanted to do it myself.”

“I’m motivated to win because raising that money feels good because you have accomplished something,” said Bachman.

While students earn small prizes like stickers and keychains, school faculty have a few larger prizes up their sleeve to keep the students engaged.

As a reward for raising $12,000, Principal Jason Libby agreed to work on the school’s roof for a day. If the school reaches its $15,000 fundraising goal, a few faculty members will run through a smaller version of while the school’s top fundraisers spray them with silly string from the sidelines, according to Goudreau. 

While Kilton didn’t know exactly what this year’s fundraised money would go toward, she said a portion will likely go towards installing a scoreboard on the soccer field.

“With the money made, I want to go on more field trips and have more awesome things at school like water slides,” said Bachman.

The Woolwich Central School is accepting donations until Friday, Nov. 1 and classrooms are still available for adoption. Details on the event can be found at getmovinfundhub.com/event-webpage/5d600a96cfe44. 

A ripple effect 

The booming success of the school’s single fundraiser event allowed the PTA to let go of smaller fundraisers that that took up a lot of time for school staff and parent volunteers, including the annual craft fair, which is held just before Christmas each year.

Instead of ending the event, Kilton asked the Woolwich Fire Department if they wanted to take it over. 

“(Kilton) thought of us instead of just letting the fundraising opportunity go,” said Mike Demers, Woolwich Fire Chief. “It’s humbling that this small community continues to support us. It makes a difference in morale.”

This is the first year the fire department will run the event, which is expected to raise anywhere between $800 and $1,200 for the department.

Demers said the money will likely go toward buying dress uniforms for the firefighters to wear to formal events like funerals. The fire department also keeps $1,000 in a “crisis fund” at all times in the event that a firefighter is unable to pay a mortgage payment, medical bills, or other bills. 

“If someone finds themselves in a crisis situation, we’ll help out, no questions asked,” said Demers.  

The 11th annual craft fair will take place at the Woolwich Central School on Saturday, Dec. 7 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

kobrien@timesrecord.com

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