NATCHEZ — Money from fundraisers makes a big difference for area schools.

Trinity Episcopal Day School’s Director of advancement and public relations Tammi Gardner said at any private school a gap often exists between tuition and what it actually costs to educate a child.

“You’ve got to find out a way, how do you make up that gap?” Gardner said.

Raising tuition, Gardner said, could mean a number of students would not be able to attend.

Adams County Christian School’s junior and high school Parent Teacher League Leigh Anne Mason agreed.

But private schools aren’t the only ones with funding gaps to fill. In the Natchez-Adams School District, Public Relations Coordinator Steven Richardson said that, while the district as a whole only does fundraising for events such as Relay for Life, individual schools do fundraise.

Richardson said each school has a specific budget, but sometimes classes and clubs want to do something new or expand.

“We’re the only public school district here, so we have so many students, and we do not want to not give a student an opportunity to participate in an extracurricular activity because of no funds available,” Richardson said.

Whenever faculty members want something that exceeds the budget, Richardson said some apply for federal grants, pay for items out of pocket or come up with fundraisers.

Each school has had different events over the years, ranging from selling items to hosting festivals. Events such as Merry Market and the May Fair put money in the general fund for Trinity, which pays everything from teachers to the light bill.

“It’s all the things you don’t really see,” Gardner said. “They’re not tangible items, but they’re definitely things that make a school run efficiently and run well.”

Gardner said other groups, such as cheerleaders and the parent teacher organization, raise funds for more specific things.

Like Trinity, Mason said ACCS has multiple groups that fundraise, including the school’s Booster Club and the PTL. Mason said the PTL has hosted fundraisers such as cookie dough sales and auctions throughout the years to raise money for academic items.

And they’ve had good results in the past.

“The PTL has furnished the entire school, except one or two classrooms, with smartboards over the course of seven or eight years,” Mason said.

Richardson said parents are also instrumental in the fundraising process at NASD.

“We just really appreciate our parents because, most times, if you’re not high school or upper level high school, it’s the parents doing the fundraising,” Richardson said.

But Richardson said fundraising can be difficult because of the multitude of events and causes.

But Mason said fundraising events help pay for classroom items.

“If it wasn’t for additional fundraising, then we wouldn’t be able to have the extra things like computers in every classroom and smartboards in every classroom,” Mason said.