Stuff for Schools

[LavaASU]

Hey CB,

I work with a couple of production companies and will often get items that would otherwise be thrown away by the companies for some schools I volunteer with. Sometimes I end up with more than the schools I work with need. If any of you guys are students or staff at schools or non-profits in Phoenix, AZ and are interested in periodically getting offered extra stuff, PM me. You do have to be a legitimate school or other non-profit, and you are not allowed to sell any of this stuff, but it's free and I've probably gotten at least 100k worth of items for various schools and organizations over the last few years.

Also, if you own a production company and are reading this, please think twice before throwing out stuff. Consider calling your local high schools or community theatres. Often times your "useless" stuff is better than they have.

 

[gafftaper]

Thanks @LavaASU ! That's a really generous thing to do. Hopefully others will follow your lead. I once was a drama teacher who ran an entire high school theater program based on 1/3 of the previous year's student store Coke machine profit and my own ticket sales. I have taped together scraps of sort of the same color of blue gel in order to put gel in a light because my budget couldn't afford another $8. I have purchased a truckload of twisted and warped cull lumber to build my sets with, because that's what my program could afford. There are a lot of schools out there trying to create art with no financial support. Your junk could be gold to them!

Also there are a lot of schools out there who don't really know what they are doing. Having a technician volunteer a few hours to train their students now and then will completely change their program. Teach them how to use their gear. Teach them to safely use their fly system. Keep the kids safe and give them the tools to do an even better show. It's a great feeling and it's desperately needed!

 

[kiwitechgirl]

We used to give old but still good gel to schools - it wasn't worth our while to re-use it from show to show (talking a production house with four week runs) but if it still had some life in it, it got put in a bag and various schools would come by periodically and grab the bags.

 

[RickR]

If it's too scrappy for a school try a small church.

 

[JohnD]

Even for small production companies there could be significant tax advantages for donating. Check with your accountant.