What is Care and Share?

Care and Share is a unique way to help people in our community while simultaneously raising funds for SCA.  Each class plans a service project to be completed during the months of September and October.  These service projects are intended to make an impact on our community.  A class might choose to paint a recreation room in a children's home, visit elderly citizens in a nursing home, adopt a highway, start a recycling drive, or work in a soup kitchen.  Each SCA family identifies people or organizations that they know who value community service, and sends them a Care and Share brochure which will ask them to sponsor their service project by pledging money to SCA.  These funds are vital to the ongoing success and growth of SCA.

Why is a fundraiser necessary?

Tuition only covers about 75% of SCA's annual operating budget, so each year we have to make up the additional 25% with external fundraising efforts such as vending machine income, fundraisers and private donations. 

Why Care and Share?

In the past we have done more traditional fundraisers such as candy sales, Savers and CERTS cards, and magazine sales.  These have been reasonably successful but they rarely raise enough to cover the remaining budget.  Also, we have found that much of the sales in these fundraisers  come from our own families.  With Care and Share we are able to focus our efforts on helping others, and we are asking people and organizations who are community-minded to sponsor that effort. 

When will the service projects begin?

The majority of the work will be completed within the months of September and October.  Many classes will continue volunteering after the end of October, however the fundraising program will officially end on October 30th.

What do I do to participate?

We ask that you read and sign the Care and Share 2009 commitment letter which states that your family will commit to identifying at least 20 individuals, companies or organizations to sponsor each of your students.  There is no required minimum or maximum number of sponsors, however we are asking you to commit to 20 if you can with the goal of raising $500 per student.  We have had about 100 families make this commitment so far this year, and more commitments are coming in.  Then you complete the brochures, stamp them, and turn them into the office.  As an incentive to get the 20 brochures into the office quickly we are offering a free Care and Share 2009 t-shirt for any student who completes their 20 brochures and brings them to the office by Friday, September 4th.  If you don't get your brochures in by the t-shirt deadline, don't let that stop you from completing the brochures.  We'll take them all the way through the end of October.  Ultimately the number of brochures we send out isn't important.  The amount of pledges received is what counts.

Are online donations accepted?

We are able to accept online donations through Google Checkout by going to www.swchristian.com/share/donate.html or by clicking the “Donate” menu on the Care & Share website (www.swchristian.com/share ). Please remember that if you do not turn in a brochure by September 4th for someone who plans to donate online, their donation must be received by September 4th to count toward qualifying for the t-shirt.

Do students earn prizes as in other fundraisers?

Yes, while the best reward is the opportunity to help someone in need, prizes will be awarded based on the amount of sponsor pledges received.  A prize list is available and can be downloaded from our Care and Share Resources page.