Things to Know about Life in Lake Isabella #2- People Actually WANT to Help?

 

Me, introducing "Fools," our first full-length show in 2008 

“We want you to put on plays,” said my school administrator.

“Oh, that is so exciting!” I said, “What kind of budget do I have to work with?”  

“Oh- You’re going to need to fundraise. Ask the local businesses for help,” directed my school administrator.

“Alright,” I said “Great…”  

But what I was thinking was, “Wait? So I have zero budget….and why would local businesses care?”

                This was thirteen years ago, and KVHS had recently completed its Fine Arts/Multi-Purpose Building. I was about 24 years old at this time. I had an English Degree with a Drama Minor, but had never directed a full-length play and I knew zilch about fundraising.

I did know that a good play, considering royalties, cast-size, costuming and set pieces, could easily cost about $2,000 or more to produce. I hoped that if we could start producing annual shows, we could eventually use ticket sales to cover the costs, but we would need money up-front to launch the program. (This scenario is normal for the Kern High School District- drama programs generally need to do their own fundraising.) 

I honestly didn’t believe anyone in the community would care about the fledgling drama program. But I had no choice but to give it a try. Slowly, my Drama Club students and I began fundraising. I think our first fundraiser involved selling t-shirts with local businesses’ logos on the back. You might still have one in your closet somewhere.  

Much to my surprise, our efforts WORKED. Local businesses and churches actually didn’t mind supporting our program- in fact, they were happy to do it. No one was angry with me or my students for asking for support.

Even the people who said, “No,” because business was bad or they had already given to a local cause, were sad that they couldn’t help.

Eventually, the Drama Club raised enough money to put on a shoe-string budget One-Act-Play Festival in the first semester with the new building, and that show, coupled with constant annual fundraising, raised enough money to allow us to begin producing our first full-length play, "Fools" by Neil Simon in 2008 (still one of my favorite shows!)  

By the end of my 6 years at the high school, we had become a self-sustaining performance group.

Those early fundraising adventures were my first experiences with the generosity of people in the Kern River Valley.

My experience has been the same for fundraising for the Pregnancy Resource Center of the KernRiver Valley.  Local businesses blow me away with their generosity. 

I KNOW most locally-owned businesses in our community are not making a huge amount of profit. They have employees to pay, fees, insurance, and taxes to cover, overhead costs of maintaining a brick-and-mortar business…. not to mention the cost of their inventory, and many other expenses I’m probably blissfully unaware of.   

Yet every time I hit the streets, pick up the phone, or put out a social media request asking for help….I almost never leave empty-handed. 

Businesses, Local Service Clubs, individuals, churches and religious groups- there is always someone who chooses to help, and better yet, they want to help.           

That’s one beautiful thing to know about life in the Kern River Valley- 

People here genuinely want to help.  

What’s your favorite service club, organization, church, or business who has been generous in our community?