Wise board members know that when an organization needs to more forward, it’s time to have a party.
KidsUp! has embraced that strategy; next Saturday the local nonprofit will fill Woodward Elementary School with the happy sounds of a family fair, with a goal to lay the financial groundwork for a new Parent and Child Center (PCC) on the island.
“Our space is to build support for families,” KidsUp board member Carrissa Barbee said.
KidsUp has a history of effective fundraising and grass-roots organizing. In 2000-2001 it raised $260,000 and then rallied thousands of volunteers to construct the Battle Point playground in a barn-raising-style community event. After that, KidsUp remained in existence, largely to maintain the playground and its structures.
Resurrecting PCC falls firmly into the organization’s mission to “build community by supporting families.”
In its prime, according fair organizers, PCC served up to 400 families per month. First located in the Commodore Options facility and later at Woodward Middle School, PCC provided play space, social opportunities for parents, a resource library and lending closet, parent education classes and a licensed social worker on site. There were also dad’s groups, help for teen mothers and car seat checks.
Lack of funding led to the loss of its space two years ago, so that’s the name of the game next weekend: to generate the means to acquire a large, dedicated facility for all the PCC programs that parents utilized so heavily the first time around.
“Basically, it comes down to money,” Barbee said. “We have asked the school district for space again, and they are kind of telling us we need to wait until at least June. And we don’t want to wait. So we are desperately trying to raise money so we can lease our own space.”
With the parent fair, KidsUp hopes to raise at least $30,000 toward its projected yearly operating costs of $80,000 to $100,000.
To that end, KidsUp has already secured over 80 exhibitors for the fair, everyone from pediatricians, dentists, orthodontists and breastfeeding educators to food and clothing vendors.
There will also be demos and activities for kids including a bike rodeo, bouncy houses, slime making, a science exploration table and, courtesy of Virginia Mason clinic, “something called the wheel of pee,” Barbee said, to help kids judge whether or not they’re adequately hydrated.
Short-term, KidsUp is still seeking exhibitors, raffle donations and volunteers for the fair. Long-term, once space is secured, KidsUp hopes to hire an executive director for PCC and dig in to the details of getting it up and running. And get a little more help.
“We need more board members,” Barbee said. “We are only three girls. We need people to commit time to help and who are interested in the mission, and can help us with the fundraising. The goal is to make this Parent Fair an annual thing.”
The KidsUp! Parent Fair takes place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Feb. 28 at Woodward Middle School. See www.kidsup.org.
