Mom of three Dee Wise Heinz is no stranger to time-consuming PTA fundraisers -- from making endless treats for bake sales to selling wrapping paper to making appearances at nighttime events.
When her daughter, who is in the seventh grade at a local Texas school, brought home this refreshingly honest form for an "alternative fundraiser," the mom simply had to share it with her friends on social media.
The hilarious fundraiser form gives parents the option to donate money outright, with spot-on descriptions for each amount. For example, a $15 donation corresponds to "I do not want to bake, so here is the money I would have spent on those cupcakes." A $50 donation allows parents to avoid being forced to "walk, swim or run in any activity that has the word 'thon' in it."
Heinz told The Huffington Post she and her husband Sean loved the humor and honesty from the PTA notice, which they think "was obviously written from the perspective of a fellow parent who understands how overwhelming these undertakings can often be."
The parents aren't alone in their appreciation. Heinz' Facebook post has been shared over 168,000 times. "I think so many people have found this amusing because the large majority of us have had these thoughts ourselves at one point or another," the mom said. "People are busy. When you have active children, in our case, three of them, we are constantly doing something. We attend practices and ballgames and recitals and social activities and church functions and help with homework and so on. One 'simple' fundraiser is rarely simple and seldom just 'one.' This was a refreshing option because our time spent with our families is a valuable resource," she added.
Heinz has received messages about her post from parents all across the globe, from the U.S. to Scotland to Australia. Many say they want to propose this kind of "alternative fundraiser" to their own local PTAs as an option for overstretched parents.
Still, the mom wants people to know that she in no way wants to discredit the service that fundraisers provide to schools and that she understands "not every family has the disposable income to simply write a check."
"I sincerely recognize and respect that," Heinz said. "This makes the fundraisers such a great way to raise funds needed for important school necessities. We simply appreciated the option of directly writing a check."
She also contests the idea that this "lazy way to fundraise" will cause children to not learn responsibility, as some commenters have suggested. "When you’re already running yourself ragged with the daily barrage of activities that most families have, there’s hardly time to be lazy," the mom said, adding, "Also, there are plenty of ways children can learn responsibility. They can learn this through making sure their homework is completed, through chores, through having a pet, through team sports and countless other ways."
At the end of the day, Heinz believes the viral success of the fundraising form shows that parents appreciate humor and honesty. In short, she said, "this was simply 'fun.'"
H/T Fox28
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