Corpus Christi Catholic School kindergartners Jacob Boydston, left, and Joshua King clap their hands with their classmates during music class Thursday, Sept. 10 at the school. In addition to a spring auction, school officials have decided to consolidate school fundraising efforts into one event, The

At one time or another, Corpus Christi Catholic School students have sold everything from wrapping paper to trash bags to raise money for their school.

Sometimes children and parents were participating in up to four fundraisers each semester. But this year, school and parish administrators took a cue from the parents and are scaling back.

“Over and over again I have heard, ‘Please don’t nickel and dime us,'” Principal Mary Mattern said. “With the economy, it’s a smart decision.”

The school will now have just one fundraiser a semester. Still, school leaders are hoping for the same amount of green, starting with their fall fundraiser, The Big Bazoohley, a cash raffle.

“We need to get to 3,000 tickets sold for us to come up with the same value of what we would have had if we did several little fundraisers,” the Rev. Mick Mulvany said. “The revenue dollars so far are following suit.”

Students are asked to sell one book of 10 tickets at $10 per ticket. With just a few days of sales remaining, the $30,000 goal has almost been reached. In a drawing Friday, one lucky winner will walk away with $10,000.

School administrators are getting a positive response from parents.

“They have been overjoyed with it,” Mattern said. “What I’ve seen with the switch and going to the more simple aspect of it is parents really buying into it and it being a big team approach.”

The simplicity of the raffle is paying off in other ways, too — notably in savings of time and effort from the students and their families.

Previous sales were turning families into delivery drivers. “You end up with 75 cartons of trash bags sitting around the school that kids have to drag out to cars,” Mulvany said. “(Families) really helped make us aware that every time we do one thing, there’s a piece at the beginning and a piece at the end.”

Mulvany said with any given fundraiser in the past, around half of parents and students would participate. By cutting back to just two events a year, he’s hoping that everyone in the Corpus Christi community will get on board.

“We have prizes set up for our children so everyone is vested,” Mattern said. “Together, it’s a team community effort to do what’s best for our children.”

Mulvany noted that parochial schools ask a lot of their parents, including spending time volunteering. Cutting back on fundraisers is another way to make all of their tasks a little easier to handle.

“It made a lot of them smile when we said we were doing it this way,” Mulvany said. “You’re not handing (parents) four other projects and saying, ‘In addition to what we’re already expecting, can you help us with this?’

“We found that (the new fundraising plan) was really a better use of their time and their resources. It’s really helping all of us get a better understanding of the stewardship we’re calling people to.”