The Eisenhower Elementary School PTA got creative for its latest fundraiser, and has won far-flung support in donations from across the nation.
For a January Trivia Night benefit at the Davenport Knights of Columbus, the PTA sent out requests to hundreds of organizations within and outside the Quad Cities, including restaurants, sports teams, museums, parks, zoos and other attractions.
They hoped a few organizations might respond.
Instead, they have received generous packages and messages from across the country. Outside the abundance of items from QC groups, support came from many other organizations including:
- Houston Zoo
- Santa Barbara Zoo
- Denver Zoo Conservation Alliance
- Science Museum of Minnesota
- Denver Art Museum
- Computer History Museum (Mountain View, Calif.)
- Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello
- George Washington’s Mount Vernon
- Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library
Matthew GoldenEisenhower School received photos, a book and stickers from the LBJ Presidential Library and Museum in Austin, Texas. - Golden Gate National Recreation Area
- Voyageurs National Park (northern Minnesota)
- Minnesota Twins
- Chicago Bears
- Philadelphia Phillies
- Las Vegas Raiders
PTA board member Matthew Golden (to be next year’s president), who led the effort, even got a response from the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, Australia.
“I’m not quite sure where I found that email, but they reached back out and they're like, this is so cool that you reached us. We would love to send something,” Golden said at Eisenhower on Friday, Feb. 27. “And we still haven't gotten it. But with the goofiness of international mail, I have no doubt that, like, in mid-May, something's gonna show up.”
“I think that's cool. I think it's amazing,” PTA president Dana Mosier (who has a 3rd grader, Owen, in the school) said of all the responses. “I mean, we got Australia and all these crazy places. I think it's cool.”
Golden and his wife have a six-year-old kindergartener, Jack, at Eisenhower (2827 Jersey Ridge Rd., Davenport) and headed up getting donations for the Trivia Night, and their first-ever online auction, which has a ton of valuable goodies for sale.
“We've basically been attacking it since after Thanksgiving. I started sending a few emails out and we had started collecting local stuff,” including from the QC minor league teams, the River Bandits and Storm.
Since he had worked a decade for the St. Louis Cardinals (social media), Golden wanted to ask other teams and attractions around the country. He estimates making requests of hundreds of organizations, and heard back from about 70.
“We sent stuff to the major league teams and we got something back from the Phillies. We eventually got something back from the Twins,” he said. “We jumped over to the NFL and then I got something back from the Bears, the Raiders. I got an answer from the Eagles (Eisenhower's mascot is the Eagles). I sent some stuff to like Eagle teams and the Philadelphia Eagles. A lot of these teams, big organizations really only do stuff in their region. But the Eagles were like, oh, that's super cool. So they sent a really fun email back.”
“Even though it was times where you got like, well, sorry, we can't donate, you could tell it wasn't just like a blank copy and paste set. It was like, Eisenhower, this is a cool idea,” Golden said of responses.
A lot of the local merchandise (including tickets and gift cards) were sold in the Trivia Night, with a good deal of non-QC items now available online. The online auction also will include a big QC package, with museum passes, a four-pass pack to Niabi Zoo in Coal Valley, and they sent a video of their bald eagle on a perch (many places sent shout-out videos in place of physical items).
“Like we have a Denver package. And in my head, if we do online, I'm hoping there's like an uncle or a grandma that's out in that area,” Golden said. “We got a bunch of items from the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library (Austin, Tex.). But then we have a seasonal pass to Mount Vernon and two daily passes to Thomas Jefferson's Monticello. For me, that would be a really fun thing for someone here to get. But I'm really hoping there's so many family members out east that someone, especially a membership for a summer I assume will be used.”
$3,000 raised at Trivia Night
The Trivia Night event over MLK Day weekend attracted over 150 people, included several gift baskets, and raised $3,000, he said.
“Because I think with all just the goofy weirdness going on in the world, people want to have fun,” Golden said. “They want to be able to say, this is for a bunch of kids. Yes. I'll send a box of stuff. I'll send a handwritten note. Because for the most part, a lot of these folks in these offices, it's kind of routine. But then you get something like this. It's like, oh, this is fun. This is awesome. And so it was.”
Yosemite National Park sent a lot of items, including books and two STEM kits, worth $500.
“Our fourth or fifth graders are going to end up using those in class. And so that's really cool because we're going to move the money we raise into stuff like that,” Golden said, noting proceeds will help pay for books, supplies, and increase the amount teachers get every year for their classroom (usually $150), so they don’t have to pay out of their own pocket, PTA president Mosier said.
“We might go to each grade and say, okay, what do you need, as a grade?” she said, noting the school has 430 students.
“Some of them have thought, oh, I want a STEM thing that we could use over and over, year after year. Another big one was just like, what about play stuff for the kids? Or, different things that we can use to engage their learning, that kind of stuff. And then there's things as making the courtyard better so we can get more outside time with the kids who have nice courtyard areas. I mean, there's all kinds of different things that we're kind of looking at.”
Since many requests were made during Christmas break, Eisenhower didn’t see some deliveries until after staff returned in January.
“And so that first day back, I think we had 12 to 15 packages being delivered because it just was on hold for a while,” Golden said. “I had not told our front office staff that was coming, and they sent me a picture and they're just like, whoa, what is all of this? And I was like, where's it from? And she started listing off stuff.”
“Stuff would just show up. Which is kind of fun too, because I have two kids and they got Christmas, but it felt like for three weeks -- I got Christmas,” he said. “Where are we gonna get stuff from today? And it was just really fun to walk in the office. And something's from Yosemite, something's from the California State Park system, something's from the Raiders, something's from the Bears.”
“Every once in a while, when the teachers would be walking through and they would look and they're like, oh, hey, that's my favorite team,” he said. “Or I love Yosemite. Or why did you get something from some of the random, like the Santa Barbara Zoo? I'm just, I don't know. People are excited to send stuff.”
Bid online through March 16
The new online auction has a $5,000 goal, and bids will be accepted until March 16. Those packages include:
- Ultimate baseball fan
- Denver zoo and art-inspired culture
- Zoo adventures and animal lovers
- National and state parks
- Art and innovation museums
- U.S. presidential history and American legacy
- Virtual tech camp and travel essentials
The ultimate QC family and date night experiences (valued at $400+ and current high bid is $103) package alone features:
- Me & Billy — Date Night for Two (dinner & drinks)
- The Filling Station — Two $10 gift certificates
- Lady T’s — Two free cake pops
- Malibu Jack’s — Fun for 5 Package
- Big River Bowling — Bowling passes
- The Fun Station — Free admission tickets (no expiration)
- Elevate Trampoline Park — VIP jump passes plus free grip socks
- Last Picture House — 4 movie ticket vouchers (no expiration)
- Niabi Zoo — Family 4-Pack including admission, carousel rides, and train passes
- Family Museum — Four General Admission passes
- Putnam Museum & Science Center — Complimentary admission passes plus Dino Expedition stickers
- QC–themed merchandise from Raygun
(koozies, stickers, wooden signs, and more)
The PTA received brief shout-out videos from KWQC-TV, the Davenport Public Library, Davenport Police, Dwyer & Michaels, Niabi Zoo, Iowa Wild, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Mo., and South Coast Roller Derby in Orange County, Calif.
Mosier, the PTA head, is also the Eisenhower event coordinator, including the big “Jump Into Fall” each September (free to the public), which last year generated a $3,000 profit from food and game ticket sales (five free tickets are given for each child). The Trivia Night also is an annual fundraiser.
They plan to also use some proceeds to pay for summer student passes, for camps or museums like the Putnam.
“I think that'd be so fun because I was talking with our family support staff, and she was telling me before spring break last year, she was talking to a student. She's like, aren't you excited to be on break, just kind of chill out? He goes, we don't do anything at home,” Golden recalled. “And it's tough because there's families who just do that anyways. I'm hoping it's not because they can't financially do stuff. So if we can, as a PTA, can provide that help. But if it's because you can't afford a pass to the museum, we should be able to help with that somehow. So I'm hoping we can figure out a way to make that happen.”
“What started as a small, local PTA fundraiser turned into a reminder of how far a thoughtful outreach effort can travel,” he added. To place a bid, visit the auction site HERE.
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