How YOU Can Help the Ferndale Marching Band without Spending a Dime!

Let me start out by saying how I don’t really like using a forum like this to ask for help, but here I go.

I appreciate all of you that have been following my blog and supporting our band for all of these years.  The band has become such a shining star in our community, and I am so proud to be a part of it.

We currently have an opportunity to receive a grant from the Pepsi Company for $50,000.  This is a legitimate grant run by Pepsi every year in which they donate thousands of dollars a month to causes ranging from education, music, and community improvements.  You can read more about this at its website: www.refresheverything.com.

This year the Ferndale Marching Band has submitted a grant proposal to help fund it.  The budget required to run a competitive marching band is substantial – over $80,000.  So many things, ranging from top-notch staff to the little white gloves we wear have to be paid for every year. 

In order to be in the marching band, students need to pay $425 each season to help cover these costs.  While this may seem like a lot, it is one of the smallest fees in the state to participate in a competitive marching band.  There are communities where the cost for this activity averages $1,500 per student.  While we collect these fees from most students (we still have families trying to catch up from previous years), the approximate cost per student is still $650.  The difference in cost we have to make up through fundraisers and donations. 

We are lucky in our organization to be able to include kids from all types of economic backgrounds.  We want and need to be able to keep that going, and this grant is something that we really need, especially for those students.

So what can you do? 

From now until the end of the month, you can visit www.refresheverything.com/ferndalegoldeneaglemarchingband to vote for our cause.  There are three different ways you can vote each day – one through Facebook, one through Pepsi itself, and one through a text message.  These are all options you will find when visiting the site.  After voting, an even bigger way to help is to “share on Facebook” the vote you just placed so that your friends can see it and hopefully vote too.  We started over 100 place and have now reached the 30s. 

We can do this!

If you are somebody that would like to help by donating to students or the organization directly, these are some of the things that have been done by others to help:

• Donating directly to a student account
• Hiring a student to do yard work (leaf raking, snow shoveling, grass mowing) and giving to their band fund
• Donating directly to the organization
• Becoming a sponsor (your name/company goes on our semi and t-shirt)

If you are interesting in any of these things, please contact band director Elon Jamison, ejamison@ferndaleschools.org.

Again, thank you for all of your support, and please take the time to help us out by placing your daily votes at www.refresheverything.com/ferndalegoldeneaglemarchingband.