School Fundraising Dinner - A Life Changing Event
Last night I worked as a youth program coordinator at the school's fundraising dinner (FD). I was at the hotel at 5pm and left around 10pm. All praise be to Allah SWT the event went well without a major crisis. I was happy to see the teachers and some of the people whom I knew while working at the school full-time.
I have to admit that initially when I was asked to take on this task by the school's office coordinator, I cringed a bit. Then the school's FD coordinator, Sr. Brenda (kindergarten teacher), called and asked me to plan programs for the 9-12 age group. I decided to accept it because I know that it is not easy for the FD coordinator to find someone who is willing and able to take on this task. When I saw Sr. Brenda last night, I insisted that kids must be picked up by their parents by 9:30pm, if not I will inform the babysitters to bring kids to their parents in the main dining hall. I had to do this in order for all babysitters to be able to leave by 9:30pm. I had heard that during some of the previous years' FD, the event ended at 10:30pm, sometimes 11pm. It was hard enough to supervise kids for 3.5 hours without breaks, let alone 4.5-5 hours!
Last year when I was the full-time librarian at this school, I was the school's FD coordinator on behalf of the school. It was literally a life changing and exhausting experience for me - I really felt like I had just given birth! All praise be to Allah SWT I was able to pull this FD off without it falling apart or getting into major crisis except for lack of space for babysitting (over 150 kids came with their parents to the FD) and left-over pizza. Some of the things that I took away from this experience was deeper understanding and appreciation for my colleagues, event planning experience and higher self-confidence.
Back to last night's FD.
I was with the kids from 6pm to 8pm with Sr. Nubia, then Br. Mustaqim was with them from 8pm to 9:25pm. Sr. Nubia and I gave pizzas, drinks and potato chips to the kids around 6:45pm. On hindsight, we should have at least 3 adults for this age group. It was tough enough to stop kids from running out of the room to roam around the hotel hobby. Getting them to come back immediately after visiting the restroom was almost impossible.
When I was trying to conduct creative dramatics with the kids, I made some alarming observations:
1. Kids did not know how to use their creativity to think up short skits.
2. Some of the boys brought their electronic handheld to the FD. I hardly see them interact with other kids in the room.
3. My mother instinct kicked in when boys start to play rough with one another - I told them to stop immediately in case they got injured.
Between 8pm to 9pm, I was helping out as a hallway monitor, brought younger kids to the restroom, and talking to people whom I have not seen for a while.
Throughout the night, all six babysitters for 0-8 age group kids ate their dinner around 9pm. Sr. Nubia also didn't eat until 9pm. Amazingly, the hotel run out of fish and rice due to the overwhelming crowd, and only had tuna burgers and wraps. Based on last year's experience, I knew that I won't have time to eat, so I ate two bananas, that I brought from home, on my drive home. I did had a bite of chocolate cake, kindly provided by dear Sr. Anita, at around 8pm, and it was enough to get me going.
All babysitter got paid for 3.5 hours of hard work. From 9:30pm to 10pm, I stayed to clean up the babysitting rooms and moved toys and supplies to the pick-up area in the hotel lobby.
Will I help out at the FD next year? It depends. Part of me is energized by the hard work of the teachers, but part of me dread the stress level escalading as the night progressed. Somehow working part-time now has lowered my stress level threshold. Only Allah SWT knows best.
I have to admit that initially when I was asked to take on this task by the school's office coordinator, I cringed a bit. Then the school's FD coordinator, Sr. Brenda (kindergarten teacher), called and asked me to plan programs for the 9-12 age group. I decided to accept it because I know that it is not easy for the FD coordinator to find someone who is willing and able to take on this task. When I saw Sr. Brenda last night, I insisted that kids must be picked up by their parents by 9:30pm, if not I will inform the babysitters to bring kids to their parents in the main dining hall. I had to do this in order for all babysitters to be able to leave by 9:30pm. I had heard that during some of the previous years' FD, the event ended at 10:30pm, sometimes 11pm. It was hard enough to supervise kids for 3.5 hours without breaks, let alone 4.5-5 hours!
Last year when I was the full-time librarian at this school, I was the school's FD coordinator on behalf of the school. It was literally a life changing and exhausting experience for me - I really felt like I had just given birth! All praise be to Allah SWT I was able to pull this FD off without it falling apart or getting into major crisis except for lack of space for babysitting (over 150 kids came with their parents to the FD) and left-over pizza. Some of the things that I took away from this experience was deeper understanding and appreciation for my colleagues, event planning experience and higher self-confidence.
Back to last night's FD.
I was with the kids from 6pm to 8pm with Sr. Nubia, then Br. Mustaqim was with them from 8pm to 9:25pm. Sr. Nubia and I gave pizzas, drinks and potato chips to the kids around 6:45pm. On hindsight, we should have at least 3 adults for this age group. It was tough enough to stop kids from running out of the room to roam around the hotel hobby. Getting them to come back immediately after visiting the restroom was almost impossible.
When I was trying to conduct creative dramatics with the kids, I made some alarming observations:
1. Kids did not know how to use their creativity to think up short skits.
2. Some of the boys brought their electronic handheld to the FD. I hardly see them interact with other kids in the room.
3. My mother instinct kicked in when boys start to play rough with one another - I told them to stop immediately in case they got injured.
Between 8pm to 9pm, I was helping out as a hallway monitor, brought younger kids to the restroom, and talking to people whom I have not seen for a while.
Throughout the night, all six babysitters for 0-8 age group kids ate their dinner around 9pm. Sr. Nubia also didn't eat until 9pm. Amazingly, the hotel run out of fish and rice due to the overwhelming crowd, and only had tuna burgers and wraps. Based on last year's experience, I knew that I won't have time to eat, so I ate two bananas, that I brought from home, on my drive home. I did had a bite of chocolate cake, kindly provided by dear Sr. Anita, at around 8pm, and it was enough to get me going.
All babysitter got paid for 3.5 hours of hard work. From 9:30pm to 10pm, I stayed to clean up the babysitting rooms and moved toys and supplies to the pick-up area in the hotel lobby.
Will I help out at the FD next year? It depends. Part of me is energized by the hard work of the teachers, but part of me dread the stress level escalading as the night progressed. Somehow working part-time now has lowered my stress level threshold. Only Allah SWT knows best.
Labels: Fundraising Dinner
posted by Jiru at
6:31 AM
