If you have kids, chances are you've helped them raise money or donated to their school.

The pressure to fund raise is constant, but one local non-profit is working to help ease that pressure.

Whether it is a jog-a-thon, auction, gift wrapping or bake sale kids, and their parents are constantly asking for money.

Parent Bill Critchlow says, "There's always something where your writing a check."

Parent Mikayle Anderson adds, "Every time you belong to a group or are a part of anything your constantly furnishing."

Deep cuts to education budgets in the 90's and early 2000 forced schools to fund raise to pay for music, PE and teacher aids.

Crest Drive Principal Joe Alsup says their jog a thon brings in as much as $30,000 for programs, to make up for those deep cuts.

" We're still doing a catch up game, and it is a shame, this is a wonderful event and we would be doing something like this anyway, but to have to have this as a dependence for the quality of school or program, its sad."

That constant fund raising isn't only a burden on parents, its not always fair to smaller or economically disadvantaged schools, like at River Road Elementary. That's where the Eugene Education Fund comes in.

EEF grants paid for this literacy software and river road just learned they're getting three more literacy grants.

Principal Paco Furlan says, "Every year we've gotten tremendous help from the Eugene Education Fund that's helped us do just some amazing things, some extra things we wouldn't have been able to do otherwise."

Of the $750,000 EEF raised for Eugene schools, about $130,000 of it goes to grants.

Wayne Parker with the Eugene Education Fund says the benefits are apparent. "You see it in the responses of the students, you see it in the response teachers who are so appreciative and you see it in a very tangible way in test scores."

But he also says he wishes they could hand out many more grants.
Parker says, "Even with all the generosity, we're just scratching the surface of the need."

Which means kids and parents aren't done asking for money just yet so they might as well enjoy it.

Five percent of all donations to individual schools goes to the Eugene Education Fund grants to be spread among all schools.