Highway Holdup Fundraiser
Highway Holdup Fundraiser
Here’s an idea for a quick and easy way to raise a few dollars for the next charity athletic event you participate in. I live in SE Florida, where we are fortunate to have good weather year round. Last year a few members of our Team in Training cycle team conducted a couple of highway holdups to help them raise funds for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
The basic premise behind a highway holdup is to pick a busy street intersection or two, and place 2-3 team members at each intersection. Each team member should wear their team uniform, or at least a team t-shirt, to let passing motorist’s know what cause they are raising money for. You also need to have some sort of donation bucket at each intersection. An empty metal coffee can would work well, and they have a tight fitting plastic lid, to keep the money from falling out. Our local firemen always use one of their large fireman’s boots to collect the donations in, which I think is a pretty clever idea.
Temporary Permit
Check with your local building and zoning department to see if you need any sort of temporary permit in order to conduct a highway holdup. A couple of the girls on our cycle team, that live in the north end of the county, had to get a permit in order to do the holdup in their town. In the south county area, everyone says you can do a highway holdup in the town I live in, without getting a permit, with no problem.
Just use your own judgment as to whether or not to obtain a permit. A highway holdup only takes an hour or two, so you more than likely won’t be bothered by anyone. In the event that the local police stop by to see what you are doing, hand them a newsletter and let them know you are raising funds for a non-profit charity organization. There are always groups of people on the street corners in my town asking for money for one cause or another. I doubt that most of them have any kind of permit.
Newsletter or Brochures
I would put together some sort of newsletter or brochure to handout to motorists that make a donation. The newsletter could give the details of the event you are raising money for, and briefly describe how the donated funds will be used by the charity organization the money is being donated to. You can also hand out the newsletter to motorist’s that aren’t interested in making a donation that day.
Passing motorists may read the newsletter after getting home, or share the newsletter with their friends or co-workers. Make sure to include details on how they can make a donation, such as listing the URL of one of the team members fundraising websites. You could also place your mailing address in the newsletter, but you might not want to handout your home address to strangers.
Share the Wealth
If you are doing a highway holdup with multiple team members, you would split up the donations evenly between each team member. There is a busy intersection not too far from my house. I could use my house as a base camp, where everyone would meet in the morning. At the conclusion of the highway holdup, everyone would meet back at my house, where I would have cold drinks and snacks waiting for everyone. Then we would count up and divide the money between all the team members.
There is no way to predict how successful a highway holdup will be. I’ve heard from Team in Training marathon, triathlon and cycle team members that said they only made $50 each in two hours time, and others that have made $175. But a highway holdup doesn’t require a lot of planning, or cost any money to setup, and it doesn’t take a lot of time. I still think raising even $50 in two hours is pretty good. You do need to have a pleasant personality and work the crowd a bit. SMILE!!! Look like you are having fun. Passing motorists won’t have any interest in you or your group if you look like a bunch of sour grapes! And remind everyone that you are collecting donations for a charity, you aren’t asking for money for yourself.
Final Thoughts
I have seen larger organizations, such as the Palm Beach Fire Department, man busy street corners throughout the county over the course of an entire weekend. The firemen work in shifts, with no one working more than a few hours at a time. South Florida can be HOT, HOT, HOT, especially in the summer. I would make sure to slather your skin with plenty of sunscreen, wear a baseball cap and bring along a cool drink before participating in any outdoor activities down here.
I know fundraising can be a difficult component of participating in charity athletic events. But if you put in as much effort towards raising funds, as you do training for the event, you should have no problem reaching your fundraising goals.
Take care,
Lynn Smythe AKA the Bike Diva
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