The Pop-Song Crew's leadership committee was finishing up their monthly meeting.
The Pop-Song Crew was the school singing club.
"Is there anything else to discuss?" Jerry, the club's president, asked.
"No," Lucy, the treasurer, replied.
Kathy, the secretary, shook her head.
"Yes!" Mrs. Mayer, the club's faculty advisor, said eagerly.
She was looking at her phone.
"We've been invited to sing at the Newtown Spring Festival next month."
The kids cheered.
"I can't wait to tell the rest of the club members," Jerry said.
"Wait," Lucy said.
"Newtown is three hours away.
We'd have to rent a van to get there."
"How much did it cost last time we rented a van?" Mrs. Mayer asked.
Lucy checked the club's account.
"Three hundred dollars. Plus $35 for gas.
We only have twenty dollars left in our account."
She did a quick calculation.
"We'd have to raise $315."
Kathy groaned.
"We can ask everyone in the club to pitch in," Jerry suggested.
Lucy punched the numbers into the calculator app on her phone.
"With 11 members, everyone would have to pay $28.63 each."
"That's a lot for some members," Mrs. Mayer said.
"Especially since we've had many expenses this year."
"We could hold a fundraiser," Kathy suggested.
"Great idea," Jerry said. "How about a car wash?"
"Math Club had one last week," Lucy said.
"A bake sale?" Kathy asked.
"We'd have to sell a lot of cookies to raise $315." Lucy sighed.
"Can we text about this later?" Kathy asked.
"I'm late for a friend's birthday party at the bowling alley."
"Hey! Science Club did a bowling fundraiser last year," Jerry said.
"They raised a lot of money."
"I'll call and find out the costs," Lucy said.
"Then we can figure out a budget."
The next day Lucy sent a group text to the committee.
"Bad news. The bowling alley costs two hundred dollars to rent for two hours.
That means we'd have to raise $515 total."
"Now what?" Jerry texted back.
Lucy sent a shrugging emoticon.
Ten minutes later Kathy texted.
"Can you meet me at the bowling alley?
I think I have a solution!"
When Lucy and Jerry arrived at the bowling alley, Kathy introduced them to her friend Carl.
"I'm a big fan of your club!" Carl said.
"My uncle owns this bowling alley.
He said he'd only charge you one hundred dollars for three hours.
And the rental fee includes the games and shoe rentals.
He thinks this would be great publicity for the bowling alley."
"That means we'd need to raise $415 total," Lucy said.
"If we charge $10 per person, we'll need at least 42 people to come to our fundraiser."
"What if all eleven club members bring three people with them?" Jerry suggested.
"That's 44 people," Kathy said.
"We'd raise $440!" Lucy said. "That's more than enough!"
"This is great, Carl," Jerry said. "Thank you!"
Two weeks later Lucy, Jerry, and Mrs. Mayer sat at a table in the bowling alley.
The fundraiser had been a lot of fun.
Even more people had shown up than they had expected.
"How much did we make?" Kathy asked.
Lucy finished counting the money.
"We made $560.
After we pay $100 to the bowling alley, we have a profit of $460.
That covers the costs of the van and gas, and we'll have $125 left over."
"Plus, the twenty dollars in our account," Mrs. Mayer said.
"We can buy lunch for everyone on the trip."
Jerry smiled. "Thanks to Carl and his uncle, The Pop-Song Crew is going to Newtown!"