Youth Group Fundraisers

Popping kettle corn for the yard sale and boiling water for the spaghetti dinner didn’t raise their blood pressure. So for this year’s summer-trip fundraiser, a church youth group from eastern Bedford County turned to an adrenaline-pumping mission: vandalizing lawns — and getting paid for it.

That’s why three teenagers, two parents and two pastors from Forest Family Fellowship were creeping up a suburban hill the other night, toting 50 hot-pink plastic flamingos — America’s tackiest lawn ornaments — to plant in a front yard. A car down the street cast its high beams on the group, and someone said, “Oh no! We’re going to get caught.”

Teenagers from Forest Family Fellowship, a storefront Church of the Nazarene congregation on U.S. 460, this month began offering to drop a flock of flamingos on anyone’s lawn for $50. In the past three weeks, people have paid them to prank at least 15 houses, making the fundraising strategy more successful than a week of pancake suppers.

“With a spaghetti dinner or something like that, it just depends on who comes, and it’s just one event, and it can be boring,” said Jenee Whitt, 16. “Flocking affects more people because people don’t drive by a spaghetti dinner and laugh. They’ll laugh at the flamingos and they’ll remember them.”

The gag is a way of appealing to the budget-conscious. It has been employed by other Southwest Virginia youth fundraisers, from Roanoke to Christiansburg to Galax, where a Methodist group in 1990 used the money to fix houses in South Carolina. It’s unclear where the idea started.

The Forest Family Fellowship youth group aims to raise $5,500. Ten teenagers and six chaperones plan to spend the money traveling to Savannah, Ga., to help repair homes in July, said John Gilmour, the youth pastor.

The group has made trips in previous years with a nondenominational organization, Group Workcamps, to rural parts of West Virginia and New Hampshire. Funds to pay for those trips were raised through traditional bake sales, dinners and collections.

What’s distinctive about the flamingo punking is enthusiasm. Group members sing pop songs with avian alterations. Queen’s “We will rock you,” becomes “We will flock you.” Tobymac is transformed to “Somebody’s flocking.”

And they’ve given one another flocking nicknames. Whitt is called “Quasi,” though she says she hasn’t accepted the moniker. Youth pastor Gilmour is “Big Bird.” Others include Nicolas Foust-Meyer, 16, alias “Stud Muffin,” and Ashleigh Gilmour, 18, aka “Alpha.”

On Friday night, Big Bird held a briefing at the church’s storefront quarters. The house they targeted hadn’t been scouted in advance, so they wouldn’t know the terrain, he said. The owners had a dog, which Gilmour expected to be inside. Stud Muffin and Alpha listened.

Seven people packed into the church’s van, and, after saying a prayer, rolled to the street of the target house. They left the engine running as they pulled the flamingos from the van’s back door. In the darkness, they crept up the street to the two-story home with a circular driveway.

A car up the street turned on its high beams, and another drove past.

“Act natural,” said a girl as she cradled three flamingos.

They began propping the ornaments on the lawn. One of the teens dropped a flamingo, which landed with a hollow plastic thud on the pavement.

“Shh!” someone said.

Once they planted the flamingos, Big Bird hung a pink ransom note on one.

“Congratulations!!,” it read. “YOU HAVE BEEN FLOCKED! Thank you for being a good sport! It’s all in fun and to serve the Lord.”

As they drove away, everyone in the van clapped for completing the mission without trouble.

Two days later, the victim, a Rustburg High School teacher who was reached over the phone, wondered who would have targeted her house for the stunt. She said she and her husband hadn’t seen the flamingos until morning.

“For sure it has to be a student of mine,” said Stephanie Ragland. “I thought, ‘This is going to be so embarrassing. Everyone’s going to drive past our house.’ But after we knew what it was about, it wasn’t that big of a deal.”

Flocking requests are stacking up, Gilmour said. The group bought 50 more flamingos for $114 last week, and they’re planning pranks at least until May.

Source: http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/241686