At the beginning of this school year, I was a bit of a spazz about the fact that Kyra and Jaiden were beginning middle school. 6th grade was a traumatic experience for me, and because of this, I worried about how the twins would handle the transition out of middle school. Perhaps because she is a girl and I was a girl, I was more concerned about Kyra than I was about Jaiden. As it turns out, I didn’t need to be concerned about either of them, least of all Kyra. They’re both having the middle school experience I wish I’d had. Maybe I went through what I did as a way of paying dues so that my children wouldn’t have to.
I’m going to update you on all of the Minions through the next few days, but this post is about Kyra (and the help she needs from you). Kyra is everything I wish I was when I was her age (and in some ways, today at my age). The most important things — she is funny, kind, determined, focused, a go-getter, a leader, motivated and is a motivator. Less important, but no less impressive, are her accomplishments this year:
- elected Student Council Secretary
- straight A student (well, she got one B in science on the 2nd quarter report card. She was just 2 points away from an A and was determined that it would be her last B ever. She studied her butt off the next quarter and earned a 98. WHO DOES THAT? Kyra, that’s who.
- As a beginning band student, she’s sat first chair trumpet all year. She is one of only 10 beginning band students chosen by her instructor to attend District Honor Band in May, and according to him, she’s already playing 1.5-2 years above what is to be expected from beginning band students.
- She was voted by her peers to be the 6th Grade Sweetheart Court Princess. I didn’t cry because the tiara meant she was popular. I cried because people don’t see her as a target to have her face smashed into lockers.
- She’s going to be inducted into the National Junior Honor Society at the end of this month (Jaiden just barely missed getting in, but he has his sights set on making it in next year).
- And finally, she’s currently in the running for the “Miss SCHOOL NAME HERE (I ain’t tellin’)” pageant. This is where YOUR help for my girl is needed….
The biggest part of the pageant is that the contestants have to perform a community service; specifically, they are raising money for our school’s contribution to Relay for Life/American Cancer Society. The contestants can get pageant sponsors by selling advertisements in the pageant program to businesses. They can also be creative and come up with other ways to raise money. The money raised will be donated to the American Cancer Society.
She said, “I’m glad we’re doing this particular fundraiser, because of Baby S, y’know?” (Oof — my heart. Those of you who’ve been around long enough to understand what that meant know why that touched me so.) Needless to say, she is extra-motivated to do well with this.
Kyra has come up with some ideas of extra things she can do to raise money. Some things are local and small-scale (like washing neighbors’ cars, dog walking, extra chores, etc). For other strategies, though, I knew I was in trouble when she looked at me with that characteristic calculating-mastermind-I-have-a-plan glint in her eyes. Aside from driving her all over town to get business sponsors, here are the three things she thought up for me (and thereby YOU–”We could get some help from all those people you know online…you’re like FAMOUS or something!” she said…to which I said, “Hardly, kid.”) to help her out with:
1. Buy raffle tickets for Bath & Bodyworks Gift Baskets
The local Bath & Bodyworks is one of Kyra’s biggest sponsors so far. In addition to buying ad space, they’ve donated four gift baskets full of their most popular products for Kyra to raffle off. The Grand Prize basket has over $100 worth of products. There are three smaller baskets–each valued around $25– for three additional winners.
Click to enbiggen. Made up words are fun.
Raffle tickets are $2 each, and you’ll get 2 bonus tickets for every $10 you spend in raffle tickets. So,
$10 buys 5 + 2 bonus = 7 tickets total
$20 buys 10 + 4 bonus = 14 tickets total
$30 buys 15 + 6 bonus = 21 tickets total
…and so on. Of course, you could buy fewer than ten and pay $2 a piece.
When you purchase tickets (via PayPal), I’ll pull your tickets off the roll and write your name/blog alias on the backs. When the content closes, I’ll record a video of Kyra pulling the four tickets and announcing who the winners are.
All raffle tickets must be purchased by Tuesday, April 30.
We’ll do the drawing and post the video on the evening of Wednesday, May 1. Packages will be mailed to the winners before the end of that week.
2. Buy ad space in the pageant program for your small business, book, or blog.
Kyra has asked for and received ad sponsorship so far from the following major retailers: Bath & Bodyworks, Cato’s (clothing store), Gamestop, and The Shoe Department. She’s also received ad sponsorship from a few local businesses: Farmer’s Natural Food Store and Chris’s Curbside Grill (best wings and burgers in town, local folks).
Kyra-girl asked if any of my “online friends’ might want to buy ad space, and I thought that was a brilliant idea. Many of you have (or know of others) who have Etsy shops or sell things like Scentsy and Avon. I can’t guarantee that your ad will bring all the boys in the yard to your milkshake, but it might help bring a little more traffic to your business and/or blog.
Here are the ad rates set by the pageant coordinator:
| Sponsorship Level | Amount Donated |
| Cover Sponsor | $200 |
| Gold (Full page) | $50 |
| Blue (Half page) | $25 |
| White (Quarter page) | $15 |
| Red (business card size) | $8 |
| Proud Patriot Patron (name only) | $5 |
Ad art/graphics and money need to be received by Wednesday, April 24.
If you already have an ad/graphics, you can send that to me in an email.
If you want to place and ad but you NEED one to be designed, I can make one for you for an additional fee. That money will also be donated to Kyra’s fundraiser. See below for info about having me design an ad and/or other graphics.
3. Buy minor graphic design work from me.
Need a new blog header, a blog badge or button, a Facebook page header, a social media icon panel, or some other small graphic? I can help you out with that. I’ll never profess to be the best designer out there, and I wouldn’t even smack myself with the “graphic designer” label, but I can do a helluva lot more than what I could even a year ago. I’ve done all of my own graphics and site design for the past couple of years, and I’ve helped out more than a few friends with small stuff. To help my girl raise money, I’m offering some design work for relatively small beans:
| Blog header | $10.00 |
| Facebook header | $10.00 |
| Blog & Facebook header combo | $17.00 |
| Blog button/badge | $5.00 |
| Social Media icon panel | $8.00 |
| Social Media panel + coding with your links | $10.00 |
| AD DESIGN – ALL SIZES | $15.00 |
Be as detailed as you can with any inspiration or ideas that you already have about color schemes, font styles (i.e. something bold and fun, or something more delicate and elegant?), and or taglines, etc. If you have specific art that needs to be included in your design, please send that to me, too. The cost includes two rounds of revisions. My goal is to have at least the first run back to you within two weeks; I’m packing design work into pockets of “free” time (<— HAHAHA!).
PRIORITY WILL BE GIVEN TO AD DESIGNS – all artwork/advertisements need to be given to the pageant sponsor by May 1, so if you plan on ordering ad space and need me to design your graphic, please place your order ASAP or no later than Wednesday, April 24.
Ordering Information:
Easy peasy — shoot me an email using either the Contact page or directly: Smart One Kym AT gmail DOT com. Include in the email a list everything you want to purchase (raffle tickets, ad space, and/or graphics) and the total cost. I’ll double-check your math (actually, triple-check; there is a reason why I teach English), and I’ll send to you an invoice via PayPal (PayPal only…unless you’re local).
If you bought ad space or graphics and you need to send files to me, you can either send them in your first email or in a follow-up email. If you don’t send them upfront, be sure to give me a little note so that I can keep a watch for them.
Questions? Holla at your girl in the comments or send an email.
Even if you’re not in a position to give (Lord knows there are lots of people I want to support and just don’t always have the funds to do so), you can still help out by sharing this post via Twitter, Facebook, smoke signals, Himalayan mountain calls, etc.
Thanks for helping me help my girl.
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