Jack and Jill

As a black mom, of course you want your children in Jack and Jill. For those of you who are reading and don't know what Jack and Jill is, then run a Google Search. So when I was invited to join, of course I was thrilled. I attended a few meetings, and was inducted. Everything was fine, I paid my dues and attended the Mother's meetings. My children missed the first 'event' but we made the second event. During this time, the membership was charged with selling tickets to the Gala, which would take place in December. When we were given the ticket, we were told it was very important to sell the tickets or else the membership would have to be "assessed" i.e. charged more money to cover costs. So, I'm thinking, well, if everyone doesn't sell their tickets, I'll probably have to pay about an extra 50 bucks or so, no biggie. Imagine my surprise when I was informed that if we did not sell the tickets, then we were responsible for paying for tickets to the tune of over 400 dollars. WHAT? Right then and there, I was like forget this mess!!! Why is my family paying dues out the ying-yang, only to be asked for an extra $20 dollars at the first meeting, an extra $50 and the second, and three months into the who she-bang, over 400 dollars to pay for some tickets because people didn't buy them?

additionally, I was certainly not thrilled with the type of company my children would be keeping. Many of the children were older than my children were and the children that were the age of my children didn't really "bond" so to speak. Plus, I did not feel the mother's were very friendly at all. On top of that, I had heard rumors that this particular chapter was the most "ghetto" of the ones in this area, and I could see how they acquired that label. On top of all THAT, the membership did not seem committed to paying that money, given the emails that I would receive about mothers not paying dues or paying "extra" money on top of the dues.

While I would have liked for my children to be in Jack and Jill, this was not the "jack and Jill" that I had in mind. I'm kind of ambivalent about the whole thing, but at least the money hemorrhaging will stop!!!