Coin Wars

So it's been a busy week.

First of all, to add to my list of Things I Should Have Done But Procrastinated Too Long On, I was nominally in charge of the spring PTA fundraiser for the elementary school. The problem was I continually forgot to attend any PTA meetings, so on Sunday night, I got a call from the PTA president about the fundraiser, which began last Monday. I had seen the signs up at the school and felt very badly about the fact that time had scurried along so quickly, and I apologized profusely for neglecting to be on top of it. She was very, very kind. In fact, she's the type of person who has great ideas and a die-cutter, so she'd already created the posters and all the equipment needed for the fundraiser. All I had to do, she said, was show up and do the work.

Hey, I can do that. Tell me where to stand and I can stand like a pro. Just don't ask me to be in charge of anything, obviously.

This particular fundraiser is, in my expert opinion as a mother of six former, current, and future elementary school students, genius. Sheer genius. I hate fundraisers. HATE them. Most of the time, the kids are all hyped up from an assembly by the fundraising company's spokesperson, who tells them about all the fantastic prizes they'll win for making sales, so they come home waving their packets of catalogs full of overpriced chocolates or cookies or knick-knacks, ready to hit up all the neighbors and extended family. And after all that work, the school is lucky to get 50% of the profits. This fundraiser, on the other hand, was the brainchild of members of the PTA at this school and includes no useless profit sharing. All the proceeds go directly to the school.

It's called Coin Wars. In past years, it was called Penny Wars; but this year they simplified the rules a bit. The premise is simple: each grade has a bucket into which the students deposit change and paper money. All the coins count as positive points (in past years, pennies were positive and silver was negative), and paper money counts as negative points. The strategy is for each grade to dump all their change into the bucket for their grade and all their paper money into the buckets of other grades, thereby raising their own positive points and negating positive points for other grades. The change gets added up at the end of each day (we took the money to the PTA's credit union, which has a coin counting machine) and the total points for each grade is the amount of change minus the amount of paper money. For instance, this year the fourth grade totally nailed the win by bringing in over $100 in change. The rest of the grades didn't stop them in time, even when over $60 of paper money was added to their bucket on Thursday and Friday (the Coin Wars extends over a full school week). Some kids and parents save up all year for the Coin Wars.

The winning grade gets posters on their doors and a prize. And bragging rights, of course. Last year, the prizes were collectible pennies all snug in a little plastic box and display foam for each student in the winning grade (I think it was the 3rd graders, actually, which explains why this year the 4th grade won). The price was negligible and the PTA had money to fund all the programs it puts on throughout the year. This year, the winning grade gets to pick $300 worth of new playground equipment. They're all glad the kindergarten didn't win.

It was fun. I got to leave Little Gary home two of the days because a responsible older sister was home sick from school. I also got to hang out with some of my friends, including Linnea, and meet new people from the PTA. The days I brought Little Gary with me were more trying, and I didn't plan very well by bringing things to keep him occupied. Linnea had a couple quarters so he could get treats from the machines at the bank. Everyone managed not to gag at the stench of his stinky diaper today. At least, they were very polite about it and didn't mention it. (No, I haven't potty trained him yet)

I did have to miss Thursday's mad coin collecting and run to the bank, however. Instead, a friend filled in for me at the school while I went with Husband to The Big City for a doctor appointment. All is well with his blood counts (though those platelets may never make a full recovery), but Doc was very concerned about a cyst-like thing on the bridge of Husband's nose that is aggravated by his glasses. "Oh!" she said. "I'm thinking that might be a type of superficial skin cancer!" and made an appointment for Husband to see the dermatologist. I'm thinking that she's an excellent oncologist and sees cancer everywhere and that the cyst-like thing might turn out to be just a cyst that is aggravated by Husband's glasses eyepiece. In any case, there's no point worrying too much about it until next Monday, when the derm will have a look.

The Coin Wars didn't pull in as much money this year as it has in the past. Two years ago they made over $1000. I imagine it has something to do with the sour economy. It could not possibly be that I didn't have my act in gear in order to advertise sooner. Still, it's a growing tradition with the kids, and it's free to put on. Plus, the neighbors and extended family members are thankful.