'Rent-A-Kid' effort raises funds for marching band

The Fort Scott Community College Greyhound Band wants to go to Mexico next year and a special fundraiser is designed to help them do just that.

The 26-member FSCC band has been participating recently in the "Rent-A-Kid" program, a fundraiser sponsored by the FSCC Music Department in which students raise money for travel expenses and the music department. In the program, band members rent themselves out to the community to perform basic chores for minimum wage.

The program, which was last used by the music department in 2006, is being used again this year to help students pay for a trip to Mexico next spring in which students will perform aboard a national cruise ship, FSCC band director Betty Jo Laflen said.

"Two years ago was the last time we used the program," Laflen said. "It's always for educational travel, such as when students need extra money for a cruise. That's when I institute it."

Laflen said the program is beneficial in that it helps band members raise enough money to pay for their own expenses during most band trips. Student band members do not receive any financial assistance for such trips, Laflen said.

In the program, students perform several different types of chores, including gutter cleaning, leaf raking and other yard work, garden work, snow shoveling, and other various household jobs, mostly for people who have trouble performing the work themselves, Laflen said.

"Whatever people need help with," she said. "We have a lot of retired people in the community who need extra help. The community is real supportive and the kids try to do a good job."

The benefits of the program are two-fold, according to one band member.

"I think it's a good way to help out in the community, and to raise money for our band trips," FSCC freshman band member Amelia Keas said. "It helps others out as well."

Keas, a music education major from Plainville, Kan., said she is eager to help out with chores in the community to earn money for her first trip on a cruise ship.

"I'm excited about taking a cruise over spring break to Mexico," Keas said. "I've never been on a cruise before, so I'm pretty excited."

Laflen said that a few students have also helped some area residents with tasks such as loading lumber and structure painting. Some band members have even helped tutor fellow FSCC students who are having difficulty with certain classes at the college.

Some residents who hired students two years ago, when the program was last used, have asked for students to return this year to assist with additional work, Laflen said.

The program has been successful in the past because it has allowed students to raise enough money to make periodic performance trips, Laflen said.

The amount of money students earn per chore varies, but community members who rent band members for work typically pay at least minimum wage, which is currently $6.55 per hour.

"We will accept any donation," Laflen said. "People have been really good about that."

For more information or to rent a student, call Laflen at (620)223-2700 ext. 562.