It’s true. The football field is in shambles. Our children are at risk of injury due to potholes and excessive flooding, and games are sometimes diverted to alternate locations. This is unfortunate because the loss of ticket and concession sales deeply impact our ability to fund our extracurricular activities. Cue the price tag.
Total funds to be raised: $600,000.00. Time frame: 4 weeks.
Total sales required per student: $500.00 Total for my family @ 3 boys: $1500.00
OUCH!
Here’s the thing. I have no doubt in my mind that it makes good economic sense to get this done. The warranty life of the new field and the maintenance afterwards is mere pennies compared to the current annual upkeep and re-sod costs. We won’t have to cancel or move games, and most importantly, our kids won’t be breaking ankles!
These guys running around dodging potholes- not a good combination.
There’s one teeeeeny little problem. The citizens of our community aren’t giving up their cash, regardless of the cause. That’s saying something, given that our city’s median household income is well above the national and state average and its citizens always donate to the kids. ALWAYS. Being a school fundraising chair for several years, I know that the people of our community have deep pockets. I also know that our collections have reduced dramatically over the past year.
To be sure, our housing values have dropped well below the national average, our businesses are now more vacant than filled, construction has come to a dead halt, and unemployment has jumped from a stellar low of only 2.3% pre-recession to an alarming 9.1% current. People are hurting. People are nervous. People are saving instead of spending so they can at least be sure they have a roof over their head and food to eat.
The stance of our school and athletic booster organization: “We realize these are bad economic times, but we really need this, so let’s make it happen.”
Do you realize it? Really?
I can’t blame them, as I said, we really do need to make this happen for our kids. Just maybe not right.this.very.minute. The citizens of our community need to recover their losses before adding on additional burdens. Our failure to recognize this is not only arrogant; it’s almost…cruel.
Which brings me to health care. It’s difficult to concentrate on whether or not you have health insurance (4 years from now, no less) when you don’t know if you’ll even have a job to go to tomorrow, or if that interview will be lined up this week, or if the mortgage company is going to kick you out on your can at the end of the month. Health reform is a worthy ambition and commands our mutual concern. But let’s get real. The general public can plainly see we’re broke. What’s more, they see the failures of Medicare and Social Security coming to a head in what couldn’t be more perfect timing to prove a point. Let’s recover our employment situation first, followed by Medicare and Social Security, and then we'll see what's left to discuss of a health care agenda that will add even more additional burdens to American families and businesses.
I thought this Obama quote was quite appropriate:
"They're still puzzled why is it that people are mad at the banks," Obama said. "Well, let's see. You guys are drawing down $10, $20 million bonuses after America went through the worst economic year that it's gone through in decades, and you guys caused the problem."Substitute "government" for "banks" and "trillion" for "million" and even the President should be able to understand my point, right?
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