In-School Publicity

If my experience in the TJSPI has taught me one thing, it’s that fundraising is the most arduous, frustrating, and time consuming process ever, and publicizing is a close second. We’ve been working so hard recently to get the funds we need that we sort of neglected publicity, and it’s come back to bite us; last month we began to realize that we were going to be able to install the panels in a matter of months but that majority of the kids at TJ had no idea it was happening. To remedy this, we started going to school events such as theater productions and class fundraisers to set up our faithful tri-fold of information and to try to get students and their parents to notice us. The results have been varied. Some people walk by us and try to not make eye-contact, but others are genuinely interested. One elderly couple spent five minutes telling me that I’m a hero and an upstanding youth for making this effort to save the environment, and one kid got me into a full-blown debate over the existence of global warming and the definition of the apocalypse. The donations I’ve collected have also been varied. One kid gave me two dollars he found in his pocket because he wanted to find out if we really mailed donors a thank you letter, and yet one mom got so excited that she sat down right then and there and wrote me out a $250 check. On the whole I was encouraged by the amount of support and enthusiasm that I found in the school community. The primary goal of the TJSPI is to implement solar panels at TJ, but secondarily we want to inform people about the environmental crisis going on and how there are very accessible solutions, and I think we’re slowly but surely getting there.

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Sarah

J-Day

Well, J-Day, our school’s annual day of activities, food, and fun was held yesterday, May 30th. The TJSPI’s parent organization, the Environmental Impact Club, had a table and activity like we did last year. Like last year, our activity this year was EXTRAORDINARILY successful. But unlike last year, we actually made a substantial amount of money this year.

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This year, our activity was to make fondue (also called fruit kabobs), where we melted chocolate chips in a CooKit solar cooker and covered strawberries, marshmallows, bananas, and an assortment of delicious foods with the chocolate. We also had a solar panel powering the entire set-up, from the laptop to the speakers. Additionally, we had a letter-writing drive, which allowed students to write a handwritten, personalized letter to Sen. Webb urging him to support climate action legislation. And of course, we gave out free keychains promoting the use of reusable bags.

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Overall, it was a huge success. We made lots of money (always a plus), had many letters written (which will, hopefully, bring about change at the national level), and promoted the use of renewable energy among the school community to an extent never seen before. I can safely say that the TJSPI is now an integrated part of the culture at TJ, and has the active support of many.

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I would just like to mention a touching (for me, maybe not for others), action I saw occur a few times. We sold our product for $1. Every now and then, someone came up and gave us a $10, then urged us to keep the change, because “the solar panels are more important than my change.” Someone actually gave a $20 bill and said she didn’t even want to buy the fondue. In the large scheme of things, these acts of goodwill are minor. But for myself and the others who were volunteering at the booth at the time, it was enough to render us speechless. To those who care so much, thank you.

How You Can Help

One of the major goals of the TJSPI is to make the donation process more streamlined and efficient. We all hate it - or at least, I know I do - when we find an organization we’d love to donate to, do the research to donate to them, but then can’t figure out their esoteric process.

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Not with the TJSPI. Whether you are a company, a non-profit, a community member, a TJ parent or student, or anyone else in this world, we have a route for you to donate. And it’s not just monetary contributions that we accept: we will accept just about anything that will help us out in raising money, gaining publicity, etc.

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So that takes us to the all-important point: how can you help? If you are interested in donation money or material goods, please go to http://tjspi.110mb.com/howsp.php to download various informational packages on donating. These packages contain information on the TJSPI, a donation form, and lots of other material. (Note: Donations to the TJSPI are considered donations to a public educational institution, making your donation tax-deductible.) Every cent of funds and ounce of material you donate can go a very long way in helping us. To recognize your generosity, the TJSPI has set up a series of recognition measures to ensure that the many charitable people in our society, such as yourself, do not go unrecognized. All donors contributing $25 or more will have their name published, should they give us permission to do so, in a full-page newspaper advertisement that will be taken out at the end of this project. All donors contributing funds or goods valued at $1,000 or more will have their name engraved on a customized, digital, interactive donor wall with touch-screen monitors and a user interface to allow interaction with the solar panel arrays and equipment.

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If you are interested in donating your time, we are extremely grateful. Time is our biggest constraint, and any help puts us many hours and days closer to our goal. Please email us at the.tjspi@gmail.com to receive more information on how to help us with various activities. Thank you so much for your interest!