CLALLAM CO.YOUTH COURT FUNDRAISING TIPS

Clallam County Teen Court has done many different fundraisers over the years to raise money for our Teen Court kids to go to trainings at the Seattle University Law School and to take educational trips annually.  Some of our trips have included: going to Washington DC to visit the Holocaust museum and attend the Supreme Court, to Louisiana to participate in one of their Teen Courts and to meet Supreme Court Justice Bernadette Johnson and to Idaho to meet Sheriff Ben Wolffinger the Sheriff of Coeur d’Alene.   The last couple of years, due to budget issues and the amount of Teen Court kids we have, we had to limit the youth going on the trips to those that are Senior’s in High School. 

Our fundraisers have included selling McDonalds coupon books, participating in a McTakeover, car washes, selling Macy’s coupons and recently we ordered Ozark lollipops to sell.   Usually this time of year we do our annual Easter Bake a thon.  Our local radio station, KONP, puts our Teen Court kids on the air from 6 am to noon for one day.  The radio announcer asks the kids questions about Teen Court i.e. what Teen Court is, why they joined, how it’s run, what kind of cases they hear, what the consequences are,  if they feel it’s effective etc.  We have our kids voluntarily sign up for 1 hr slots and we ask their parents to answer the phones to take orders and write down the donations…the Kids let the public know that it is a fundraiser to raise money to send our Teen Court kids to training at the Seattle University law school and on educational trips. We have the kids announce the orders (people donating get to pick from banana bread, carrot cake or apple/peach fritters) and amount of the donations when they come in.   People and businesses have also called in and challenged others to beat their donation. We have the Teen Court parents/kids bake banana bread, carrot cake and we order apple/peach fritters from our local donut shop. 

This really gives our Teen Court kids an opportunity to learn more public speaking skills and to have fun at the same time.  It’s also great for the community to hear about Teen Court and to realize that we have incredible young adults that are doing great things and giving back to their community in a positive way. 

Submitted by Kim Burns - Clallam County Youth Court