Links to Crowdfunding Sites

[midtennchip]

I don't know if this is against the rules or not, so I thought I would check.  My son's baseball team (I help coach) won the Tennessee State Cal Ripken 12U Championship this week and is headed to the Southeast Regional Tournament in Florida.  We have a few parents that need some financial help with the travel expenses, in addition to some other "needs" that our other parents have already helped cover.  We have a fundraising site, but not sure if I can post a link to it on TGO.  

 

Most of our parents are perfectly capable of paying their own way, but we have a few who could use a little help.

 

Thanks,

Chip

 

[bud]

. Edited August 8, 2015 by bud

[TGO David]

I'd say post the link.  Let whomever feels inclined to help, help.  Anyone who doesn't want to doesn't have to.

[midtennchip]

Here's bud's a**hole comment of the day....
I live in east nashville where little kids and their parents stand on the corner of 14th and Eastland Ave. every single weekend asking for handouts for them to go to out of town tourneys, get new uniforms, etc. They don't offer anything in return for the handout, no car wash, no t-shirt, no certificate of freakin appreciation. I've wanted to pull over and have this very discussion with them many times, but the folks doing the asking probably wouldn't get it.
Have a car wash!
Teach those kids you dont get something for nothing.
Teach the better-off kids that some kids dont have it as good as they do and they should all "team up" to help their teamates.
Asking for alms via the Internet is no different than doing it on street corners.
Perhaps I'll have my children enroll in scuba diving lessons in mexico, then stand on the corner asking for money for equipment and travel expenses that we can't afford.
Take this opportunity to teach those players a lesson more valuable than throwing and catching.
Sorry you caught my years of pent-up anger.
I would be willing to donate all the car wash supplies necessary or a portion of the money needed to purchase Krispy Kreme donoughts to sell to raise the funds. Don't do those kids the disservice of allowing them to think that begging on the Internet is different than begging on the street corner. This is not a charity case and don't teach them that it is. I'll step off the soap box now.
Also, congrats on the win.

 

Generally, I agree with you.  But this is a VERY quick turnaround.  We won the state tournament on Tuesday night.  We have to be in Florida on Tuesday afternoon.  Saturday, the best day to do a car wash, is the 4th of July.  It is supposed to rain all week before we leave.   Even if we could arrange to do it in 2 days, I doubt we'd have much success.

 

Our parents are paying around $1,500 (an expense they were not anticipating) per family to go.  Some of us are missing work AND the income that goes with it (I don't bill hours, I don't get paid -- vacation time just means no income).  We have one player who needed to replace a set of expensive glasses (which our team paid for) because they were broken in a previous tournament.  He played without them for 2 weeks.  Another has moved out of Franklin in the last month to save a couple hundred bucks a month on rent.  So, we have some people who legitimately don't have the money, but also don't want to prevent their kids from having this type of opportunity.  

 

The kids didn't get to this point without hard work.  It was a different kind of work than you have in mind, but it has been hard work.  I have personally paid over $3,000 towards the expenses of the team (not my own son's expenses) we've already incurred and didn't ask anyone (including our parents) to pitch in.  I do it for the kids.  If this were a different situation, with a few weeks notice and the ability to advertise a car wash, or yard work, or any other "work," we would do it.  But given the situation, I am just trying to help out a few families who otherwise can't afford the expense.  Most of our families will not receive a dime of the money, so they are not begging for anything.  However, I would like to help a few families that probably wouldn't ask for themselves.

 

I understand why you feel the way you do and in many cases, I agree with you.  Hope I didn't come across too badly for responding.  For those who might want to help a little, it would be appreciated.

 

gofund.me/yecvtk

Edited July 2, 2015 by midtennchip