The United Way of Crookston is getting ready to throw a lot of people in jail for a good cause this month with its annual Jail and Bail fundraiser, which will last two weeks, starting on Monday, March 13, until Friday, March 24, where many local “celebrity” criminals will be locked in virtual jail and be reaching out to friends, families, and others to donate money to get them to make bail.
“What we do is recruit, ask, harass, bother, bug, and beg people to go to pretend jail for us for a $100 bail. It’s a lot easier now since we do it online,” United Way Executive Director Libby Boucher explained. “What those people do, they go to pretend jail, and I make a specific page for that person with their picture on it with their jail bars, and they send a link to that page to their friends and families, who hopefully donate a few bucks to get them out.”
The United Way is hoping to raise $5,000, which was the amount they raised last year, and are hoping this event will be more successful.
For the family members and friends that the jailbirds reach out to help them reach bail, people can donate their “bail” either in person or by sending them online.
“They can drop them off in the mail to PO Box 218, Crookston, or they can drop them off at the office, where we’re there Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, but online is the easiest way,” said Boucher. “This year, we’re trying something new. Instead of just the website link to cut and paste, I learned to make QR Codes. Now, not only does each person have their own QR Code for their page, I figured out how to put their picture in the middle of the QR Code. Then you can scan those QR Codes with your phone’s camera, tap on it, and it pops up the web address, you tap on that, and it takes you right to that person’s page.”
The United Way will use the same website as last year for anyone wishing to donate online. The United Way has set the goal of each detainee at $100 each but welcomes everyone to go above those goals if they can and that no donation is too big or too small.
All donations will go towards the United Way, which they will give to local agencies and programs around Crookston that they will give grants to after they hold a hearing for each of them next week. To help raise funds for the event volunteers have done fun competitions to raise funds for the event.
“We’ve been doing this for a number of years, both in person and virtually. Like Steve and Lucas Biermaier do a Father and Son Face-Off at Biermaier Chiropractic. Fisher School, one of our agencies with their backpack program, has a couple of teachers there that are going head to head, so it’s also a really fun way to do it there. You can pit two people against each other,” said Boucher. “You can throw people in jail, or if you want to have your money paid to keep them in, you can do that too. There are many ways it can be done, and it’s not one of those where you have to do too much. It’s not a lot of effort or work other than setting it up and getting it ready, but once we’re rolling, there’s almost nothing for the participants to do but to just send out that QR Code or the link. It’s an easy one and a fun, quick fundraiser.”
The United Way already has many recruits for the fundraiser but says there is no limit on the number of volunteers they will accept and encourages anyone interested to contact them on their Facebook page (www.facebook.com/UnitedWayofCrookston) or by emailing them at exec@unitedwayofcrookston.org. If you would like to donate to help bail someone you know out of jail, you can go to https://jailandbail23.givesmart.com/.
