There are a lot of advantages to cheerleading squads that other sports simply don’t enjoy. I guess that goes without saying, especially in high-school, but I would submit to you that the same applies for those in college – let me explain and give you a real life example here if I might.

Over the years, I’ve participated and planned many car wash fundraisers. It started in High School as I was the president of many clubs on campus and Senior Class President also. One thing we always needed more of in our clubs and organizations was money – there was never enough for our unquenchable thirst for grandiose events. In those days I had a business washing cars, boats and aircraft, mobile car washing and we used the equipment to clean cars at those fundraisers. Eventually, we got really good at organizing them and making a decent amount of money.

Still, we could never make as much as the cheerleading squad for obvious reasons. First, they could out sell us 3:1 in pre-sale car wash fundraising tickets and during the day of the event they’d pull cars off the street in droves with a simple sign “Cheerleader Car Wash” and a couple of girls on the corner in bathing suits. Hey, that’s just not fair, but that’s life. Yes, a definite advantage indeed. Needless to say, if you are a cheerleader parent or student advisor and your squad needs money – a fundraiser of this type is quite easy to hold and quite apropos for the summer months.

The other day, I was talking to a mom at Starbucks who had a daughter who made the cheerleading squad in high school for the next calendar year. Her sister was a cheerleader a few years back at that same school and the mom remembered how expensive it was for cheerleader camp, competitions, uniforms, and travel expenses, and the mom really didn’t want to go through that one again, nor did she want to be assigned duty at “another damn bake sale” I think were her exact words. I explained the car wash fundraising strategy and how they could do pre-sale tickets, and use a busy corner to host the endeavor.

She did remember doing at least one fundraiser of that type a few years back and thought it was fun, but said she remembered getting sunburn, and I explained with proper planning no one has to get burned and her daughter’s squad could make the money they so desperately needed. Please consider all this and think on it.

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