The representatives have been much more communicative than our other contacts, and that seems to be where we’re making the most progress.

Our other bit of interesting news is that we’re going to be rolling out a new feature on our site, hopefully making it easier to find what you’re wanting to purchase.  Our next posting will be the announcement of HelpSchools.net’s new search engine!

Stay tuned!

The new year brought a revamp to the stores we have listed.  We added a few new stores: Eddie Bauer, thinkgeek, and other stores that we’ve been wanting and unable to get so far.

In the coming months, we’re going to be looking for ways to continue to improve HelpSchools.net!  If you have any suggestions, feel free to drop us a note at info@helpschools.net and give us your idea.

What this means for you:  Actually, this doesn’t impact most of the people who use HelpSchools.net.  The site itself isn’t changing, nor are the stores that we have access to.  What is happening is that there’s no more confusion about “How are you donating all of your proceeds and aren’t a non-profit?”  Well, now we are!

This year, I’m trying things differently.  It amuses me: I run a program
designed around the idea of online shopping, but I don’t do my Christmas
shopping online.  That seems a little like running a restaurant but not
knowing how to cook.  Well, this year I’m going to do all of my Christmas
shopping online, through HelpSchools.net, of course.

I know, because I’ve looked, that everything anyone (well, me, anyway)
could want in the way of Christmas or Thanksgiving stuff can be found and
purchased through HelpSchools.net.  To prove it to myself, I’m going to do
all my shopping online for the first time ever.  I’ll even report back
here so that you can see what (if anything) I didn’t get through
HelpSchools.  It’s going to be fun!

What about you, though?  Are you, like me, tired of driving into town, to
the mall or wherever you’re wanting to go, fighting to find a parking
spot, milling slowly through the store with the flow of crowds, listening
yet again to Michael Bolton sing about how he’s dreaming of a white
Christmas while you think about how you could be up on the mountain with
you friends or your kids, sledding or skiing or something that isn’t trapped in a crowd?  That’s why this is going to be fun for me.  All my
purchases are going to be delivered right to my door, and I’m going to be
out sledding with my family instead of dealing with the normal holiday
commercial trap.

Come join us!  We’ll be outside having fun and relaxing.  Do your holiday
shopping through HelpSchools.net and you can enjoy your holidays without
having to worry about “beating the rush”, too!

Brandon C

We started off the year very excited and eager to storm the world with our fabulous idea and met our first challenge head-on.  When explaining what HelpSchools.net is about, we met with a great deal of incredulity.  People just didn’t understand that there’s no catch, except that you have you use it.  A lot of schools surprised us by being suspicious of a fundraising opportunity that they don’t have to buy into.  Still, there were a few schools and school districts that understood what we are doing and embraced it.  Stayton High and Santiam High were the first two schools to get on board with us.

HelpSchools.net went to a convention for the Oregon Music Educators Association, went to the Stayton Summerfest where we met a lot new people, attended the Marion County Fair, and just finished with our second time attending Summerfest as well.  In between the conventions and fairs, we did a lot of legwork.  We spoke to schools all around the Salem area, around the Olympia and Seattle area, and even got a chance to speak with a couple of schools in Michigan and Indiana.

Things have been moving along steadily, especially as more people realize that it really is just as easy as using the site and asking others to use it, too.  We send out checks monthly, and we sent out our first $1,000 check two months ago.  Last month we asked the schools what they’re doing with the money we’ve sent thus far.

The information we’ve received so far from the schools on our list is that

• McNary High School is putting the money toward new sports uniforms
• Sublimity School District has started a savings fund while they decide where it’s best put to use
• Santiam High School started with an “emergency fund” but used some of the money on sports uniforms, outdoor school, field trip supplies, and year-end trophies
• Stayton is using the funds to help with summer and Saturday school programs, as well as directing funds into the library.

It sounds very much like we’re off to a great start!

That’s what the past year has been for HelpSchools.net.  Going into this year, we’re looking forward to being at the Oregon State Fair and branching out from offering our support strictly to schools to being open to supporting music and arts programs directly.  Hopefully this year will be even more successful than last, and with your help we can continue to offer help to schools wherever it’s needed.

Brandon C – www.HelpSchools.net

With problems this prominent, and this is only the latest example, now is the time to encourage your schools, your PTAs, your booster clubs, and anyone else you can think of to use HelpSchools.net!  We aren’t the only solution, but we are certainly one of the most user friendly.  I’d love to see enough interaction with people that we can start helping out the Dallas School District schools the way we’ve been helping other schools across the nation.

Remember that schools in your community can receive money from HelpSchools.net as well! Just go to our stores page, pick a school, and go to one of the 1,000+ stores listed on our site. When you make a purchase, a portion of your purchase price will be donated to your school! There is no extra cost and it’s easy.

Here’s a picture from our donation to Stayton High School: