Advice/Ideas for Charity for a Senior Center

[itzme]

I know TPFers have wonderful and thoughtful hearts, so I thought I can give it a try here to get some good help. So, if you can give a piece of your mind, I would greatly appreciate it. Sorry if this may end up being a little long. And I hope this is allowed here.

Basically, I’m part of a community group project that was assigned to us by one of my nursing classes. The project’s goal is to plan and set up a one-day fair at a local Senior Center, which is like the Y for the elders. We are still in the beginning steps of brainstorming ideas on what to do and how we can pull it off.

Some of the ideas we jotted down:
We plan to raise money to purchase a Wii for the center, so the seniors can have a taste of the latest technologies and exercise at the same time. We can contact local doctors to participate for a few hours to either give assessments to the seniors, or give a mini speech on basic pointers on how to take care of themselves. For example, I think a podiatrist and a dentist would be important. We, nursing students, will be giving blood pressure tests. We will ask local supermarkets and organizations for donations, which can vary from grocery bags, canned food, coupons, samples, to even money.

Ideas that struck me today were:
Maybe contact big corporate companies, which manufacture healthy products, for small donations, and we can give out their samples and coupons as advertisement for them. Or, them just giving us samples is good enough. Some brands that come to mind is Naked juice/ Dove products (Pro-age?)/Quakers Oatmeal/Tropicana and etc. I would also like to give out mini emergency kits that would include bandaids and alcohol pad. If Trader’s Joe cannot give us their cloth grocery bags, we can purchase some with the money we raised, and give them out to the winners to the different games we will set up.

The problems are:
How can I convince the doctors to come in the middle of the day for just a few hours, when they have their own private clinics to run, or even set hours at the hospital? How can I get into contact with the corporate company to ask for these donations? And who would I speak with- the Promotions manager? How can I make such a big company care about such a small local event? They won’t get much exposure from it. And lastly, what ways are there to raise money besides a regular bake sale? Would you buy crackers and dip?

Everything is just getting started and is a blur, so if anyone has any advice, ideas, or suggestion, please feel free to express yourself! Thank you for reading

 

[Sternchen]

I think it's great that you're wanting to do something for your local Senior Center. I spent a lot of time with my grandmother as a child @ the Senior Center, and I absolutely loved it. They had great programs for grandparents & grandchildren, put on plays, shows, etc. I loved that place!

Since a Wii is a relatively low-priced donation, I'm not sure how much sponsoring you would actually need. I'm not really understanding how donations of things will help, though. Will you be selling these things?

As for different products, I'd go to your local grocery store and let them know about what you're doing. Getting Dove or Naked Juices as a sponsor will probably be difficult, for a relatively small project. By talking to your local grocery manager, I'm sure you can get them to donate some money or products to sell.

As for ways of raising money, you guys could do a car wash. Don't charge a set amount, but rather do it for donations! Most people will give a good bit of money if you do a good job and they know what the goal is.

 

[ShimmaPuff]

If you can get your local media interested in the event, maybe with PSAs, even sending a reporter down to cover it, the public relations departments of the companies will be interested in that, because they might get their names mentioned, logos in the shots, product placement, etc.

To get doctors, I would try the nearest medical school, and see if they might be able to scrounge around and come up with a few interns, residents etc for you.

And PLEASE make sure that your screenings include blood sugar!

Accuchek and other meter companies love to give away free meters, because the strips and punchdoodles cost so much, and the meter you only buy once, but those supplies you have to keep buying - same principle as the free phones the cell phone companies throw around and you could maybe get Accuchek to send somebody to puncture people with a SoftClix, which doesn't hurt - oooh! Instant Senior WoW Factor!

I would also hit up a couple of exercise equipment companies, they love to pimp!

And shoe companies like Rockport.

Depending on how varied you want things, you might also hit up a couple of local salons - Makeovers! Wheee!

 

[itzme]

I think it's great that you're wanting to do something for your local Senior Center. I spent a lot of time with my grandmother as a child @ the Senior Center, and I absolutely loved it. They had great programs for grandparents & grandchildren, put on plays, shows, etc. I loved that place!

Since a Wii is a relatively low-priced donation, I'm not sure how much sponsoring you would actually need. I'm not really understanding how donations of things will help, though. Will you be selling these things?

As for different products, I'd go to your local grocery store and let them know about what you're doing. Getting Dove or Naked Juices as a sponsor will probably be difficult, for a relatively small project. By talking to your local grocery manager, I'm sure you can get them to donate some money or products to sell.

As for ways of raising money, you guys could do a car wash. Don't charge a set amount, but rather do it for donations! Most people will give a good bit of money if you do a good job and they know what the goal is.

^^ Thank you for your advice! We plan on giving out the donations of free samples and things to the seniors during games, or just for attending. The Wii does't cost too much, but we also need money to cover the cost of banners, paper for making pamphlets, supplies, and maybe to even hire a masseuse. If there's extra money, all of that would be donated to the senior center. I live in New York City, so I have no idea where I would be able to do car washes, but that's a really unique idea! I would have never though of that. I was hoping we can do a fund rasier that is related to our project, but it seems to get much more idfficult on that level. We will definitely think about it and welcome more ideas

 

[itzme]

If you can get your local media interested in the event, maybe with PSAs, even sending a reporter down to cover it, the public relations departments of the companies will be interested in that, because they might get their names mentioned, logos in the shots, product placement, etc.

To get doctors, I would try the nearest medical school, and see if they might be able to scrounge around and come up with a few interns, residents etc for you.

And PLEASE make sure that your screenings include blood sugar!

Accuchek and other meter companies love to give away free meters, because the strips and punchdoodles cost so much, and the meter you only buy once, but those supplies you have to keep buying - same principle as the free phones the cell phone companies throw around and you could maybe get Accuchek to send somebody to puncture people with a SoftClix, which doesn't hurt - oooh! Instant Senior WoW Factor!

I would also hit up a couple of exercise equipment companies, they love to pimp!

And shoe companies like Rockport.

Depending on how varied you want things, you might also hit up a couple of local salons - Makeovers! Wheee!

We're planning on getting the event covered by getting a reporter to come down, but we'll see if they agree. The medical school and blood pressure ideas are brilliant, Shimma! Thank you!

 

[Cal]

What about a human fruit machine - the senior's can get involved in this, and it's fun.

Get 3 people sitting on chairs each with a banana, apple, bunch of grapes and a pineapple. Put screens in between so they can't see each other. at the end of a count-down (or music interlude) they each raise a piece of fruit above their heads, so you have a line of 3 bits of fruit. Just like they would on the poker machines in a casino. Basically the person who pulled the "magic lever" can win a small prize if 2 or a kind are raised or 3 of a kind are raised. KWIM?

 

[itzme]

^^ Hahaha. It seems like a very fun and interesting idea, Cal. Thanks!

 

[Cal]

BTW - someone only wins if it's left to right, just like at the casino. I've only seen it once and it was lots of fun.

 

[Sternchen]

That is a FANTASTIC idea!!!!

What about a human fruit machine - the senior's can get involved in this, and it's fun.

Get 3 people sitting on chairs each with a banana, apple, bunch of grapes and a pineapple. Put screens in between so they can't see each other. at the end of a count-down (or music interlude) they each raise a piece of fruit above their heads, so you have a line of 3 bits of fruit. Just like they would on the poker machines in a casino. Basically the person who pulled the "magic lever" can win a small prize if 2 or a kind are raised or 3 of a kind are raised. KWIM?