My son J is at a local Catholic school and he enjoys going there. Each Lent they have a bit of a campaign to raise money for various good causes. It’s a worthwhile thing to do and I think it’s great to involve the children with raising money for others less fortunate than themselves. The main downside is that these activities all take place in Lent – there is very little charity fundraising elsewhere in the year. Every week there’s a dress down day or a cake sale or a fill a collection box with your spare change or a silver trail (of coins). All of these seem to avoid spending a few pounds and it quickly adds up especially when there are plenty of other demands on your pocket.
I’m happy with the idea of the fundraising with the children, but I do wish they’d spread it out a little over the year. They tend to do that with money that is raised for the school in other ways like school fund or PTA events. It’s the charity thing that seems to be concentrated into one short space of time. I know Lent is a time for cutting back on luxuries and thinking of others, but sadly bills still need to be paid and food shopping still needs to be done.
Some of the events like the silver trail are a bit lame too and J complains about taking part in them and I have to pay for him to do so, so that one feels like a double whammy. I’m not always clear either which charity they are supporting with these things – the collection box has a logo and name on, so I know where that money goes, but I’m not sure about the rest of the money raised.