At a loss for fundraising ideas? If you need some help thinking of ways to raise money for this year’s pledge drive, our families are proving themselves to be a creative source of information. Below are just some of the unique ideas that our families have thought of to raise money for the Capital Campaign.

“We are hosting an exotic Indian dinner, complete with wine/beer, appetizers and dessert & coffee on Sunday, March 9th at a private home in Silverlake. Dinner will be prepared by Kaumudi Marathé, founder and owner of the catering company un-curry (www.un-curry.com), along with moms Nikki Henry, Melissa Hanson, and Marisa Johnston. There is a suggested donation of $75 per person for the dinner, which is tax deductible. The four of us will divide the money we raise to go toward our individual fundraising commitments to the school. There will be two seatings: 6 p.m. & 7:30 p.m. Please spread the word to people you know who enjoy excellent Indian cuisine!” RSVP for location and directions to mrsdarcy1 - at - gmail - dot - com or 323-666-3650.
-Kaumudi Marathé, Nikki Henry, Melissa Hanson, and Marisa Johnston

“We donated a car to a company called Cars 4 Causes. They will give 50% of net sale minus the towing charges to the charity of your choice. I requested they contribute the money to LFCSA’s Capital Campaign. LFCSA has now been officially set up as a charity supported by Cars 4 Causes. If you mention LFCSA’s Capital Campaign, they will have all the school’s information. The donated car does not have to be running.”
www.cars4causes.net or 1-800-766-CARE (2273) -Susan Lee

“When I found out the new location of our school, I was so excited to learn it is right down the street from my house. As a realtor, it just made sense to me to make it my priority to help those in our community who will be relocating closer to our new location to find their perfect home. I will donate to our school a percentage of the proceeds from any property that I sell to our community or to someone who was referred through our community. This will be an ongoing fundraiser. I am kicking off the fundraiser with a mixer that will include food, drinks, music and information on the current real estate market. I am going to have the professional team that I work with joining me, which will include Realtors (some of whom specialize in foreclosures), lenders, escrow, title, etc. I think this is a terrific opportunity to get together for some free food, wine, music and fun while learning about the real estate market. It’s planned for the end of March. I hope this inspires other families to get creative with fund raising.” For more information, email regerama - at - gmail - dot - com. -Reg Jones

“Get ready to have a blast on Wednesday, March 26th at 7 p.m.! My husband and I have organized a night of Legendary Drag Queen Bingo at Hamburger Mary’s in West Hollywood. For a $20 suggested donation at the door (cash only please), you get bingo cards for 9 regular games and 1 grand prize game, not to mention an entertaining evening hosted by Bingo-Boy and a fabulous Bingo Hostess. There’s a full menu and bar, as well as valet parking in the restaurant’s own lot. Our daughters’ preschool and many local elementary schools have benefited from this fantastic fundraising opportunity.” Hamburger Mary’s is located at 8288 Santa Monica Blvd at Sweetzer. -Alana Cortes

More and more, one has to recognize the need for doing things differently in terms of energy and waste. Educating our children about recycling, reusing, and renewing will introduce them to a completely different and creative way of sustainable life.

Have you noticed those two blue 50-gallon rolling recycling bins in the auditorium? These aid in transporting lunchtime recycled waste to the main recycling bin in the parking lot. The Green Team purchased those with profits from tote bag sales. Our next step is to recruit lunch volunteers to help the kids recycle properly and show them how to identify recyclable items and dispose of them correctly.

In February, members of the Green Team attended lunches for an assessment of waste, and we were happy to see that some children were bringing lunches that produced relatively little waste. We are also in the process of establishing a recycling system for festivals and other events on campus (if it has a code, it’s not trash!).

In addition, The Green Team is preparing a No Waste Lunch demonstration for each classroom. In the future, we would like to have a sustainable lunch container (lunchbox) fundraiser, featuring a product such as “Laptop Lunches” or “To-Go-Ware” that leaves no waste and gets packed back up when lunch is over.

Also on our agenda is looking into supplying trays and silverware for the hot lunches, rather than disposable cartons, utensils, etc.

Green Team
co-chair, Cecily Harrison | gogreen@losfelizarts.org