Chaplain Hayden Bridgeman has been running Father/Daughter, Mother/Son, Mother/Daughter and Father/Son fundraisers at Springfield Lakes State School for the last two years. These family events also help kids in their social and emotional connections with their parents.
“The idea started when I worked as a chaplain in a previous school. We had all these dads who dropped their kids off at morning school care at 6am, and then picked them up at 6pm. Those dads might only get half an hour to hang out with their children in a weekday,” Hayden says.
“We wanted to develop something that would build community, but would also allow the boys to have their dads participate in their education. We wanted dads to be engaged in their son’s lives. That was the genesis of the idea, and it grew from there.”
Hayden went on to develop different family events – not just for dads and sons – because there was a lot of demand. Events he has run over the last five years at various schools include:
- Father/Son Scavenger Hunt – “We put on a big barbeque, with patties and burgers provided by ‘Grilled’. Sons and dads raced around the school, solving riddles along the way. We made some riddles really difficult, so dads needed to help solve them, and sons needed their knowledge of the school to help navigate,” Hayden says.
- Father/Son Car Race – “Three weeks before the event, we gave dads a kit to build a model car. They came along to a big barbeque night and raced their home-built cars on a track,” Hayden explains.
- Mother/Daughter Fashion Parade – “For a Mother’s Day event, we put on a dinner – we got the tuckshop ladies to create beautiful canapés and finger food, with local church volunteers serving the drinks and food. Mothers and daughters created fascinators and designed dresses out of newspaper. We set up a cat walk, and they had a fashion parade,” he says.
- Father/Daughter Ballroom Dancing Night – “I have some friends who won a ballroom competition, so I asked them to teach dads how to ballroom dance with their daughters. We had pizza, the girls got all dressed up and the dads wore suits. They spent one and a half hours learning how to dance – we had 220 people come along!” Hayden says.
- Mother/Son ‘Amazing Race’ night – “We had an ‘Amazing Race’ themed night where mums and sons raced around the school to reach different check points,” he says.
Springfield Lakes State School currently runs two events a year. Hayden is hoping to increase it to four events a year – one each term.
“We usually charge $7.50/head, so $15/couple. It probably costs us $10/couple to run the events, depending on what it is, so we keep the profit as our fundraiser. It’s not a huge fundraiser, but when 220 people attend, we can make close to $1,000,” Hayden says.
“It works as a fundraiser, but for us, it’s more of a community event. It brings parents into contact with the Chaplaincy Service. It means I can develop a relationship with the parents, and they also get to spend time with their kids.”
Hayden says the events are easy to replicate and organise, but time and administrative activities are needed to plan the events.
“If you are struggling for ideas, theme the nights around television shows,” Hayden says. “We’ve used the Amazing Race, Survivor and Man vs. Wild. You can take something that kids know, and that families understand – and you can turn that into an opportunity for them to relive that at school.”