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Each year we host a fund raising banquet at the high school. We have all the student help with the setup and clean up, and all of the staff participate in the festivities.
The private school system depends on outside funding in order to keep its tuition costs low. We do not have any million dollar donors (or any donors at all), so this fall fair is our attempt to bring in some much needed help to the financial account and at the same time promote the school before the community. The dinner is free, the entertainment is free, and whatever you can pledge we are grateful.
However the cost of the banquet itself if very pricy. Ordering the plates and decorations and all of the food puts us thousands in the deficit to begin with. We rarely make this back in the cash donations from the night, and its only by the pledges that we see a profit to the event. However, receive the pledges is contingent on someone following up on the pledges. This will be the first year that we’ve got someone to actually follow up with them. And hopefully it will yield our efforts financially in the “black” for the event.
Really, the fund raising banquet is envisioned as an Alumni Banquet. We have a rich history of classes that have produced many significant leaders throughout the world. This is an untapped potential for support for the school. If each of our alumni found a way to send one of their children or a niece or nephew to WHS we would quickly run out of available seats, and we wouldn’t ever have to think twice about funds. Additionally, the alumni already have invested interest in the school and could easily see a building campaign or campus improvement as something to get behind as a supporter. All of this is in our planning for the future, and we trust that God will help in our efforts to reach our alumni to attend the annual banquet. We’d like it to be a kind of class reunion such that the seats are filled with those who have been here before.
The banquet was fun. We sang songs and heard from Bob Stuck from Avant. He is part of the ministry that helped to found the school, and he made a presentation to Ms. Gibson for 10 years of continued ministry as she and the Windermere Group have worked to keep the school running.
Please continue to pray for us in the work of the school and that the Lord will keep faithfully meeting the school’s needs, from finances and personal, to students and subjects, all to His glory and fame.