Tons of Kids

This is the first year I've had a kiddo in Youth Group at our church.  My aunt recently made an offer to pay for/help pay for his church activities if it was going to put a strain on our budget.  She doesn't want him to miss out on anything due to money (or lack thereof). 

Here's my hang-up.  My church also has funds (they call them scholarships) to help kids go to camp and youth activities.  Many times others in the church have reminded me that those funds are available yet we've never used them.  The first deposit for this summer's youth trip is due in two weeks.  I don't know whether to ask my aunt for help with this deposit or the church.  We can probably easily cover 1/2 of the overall cost but not all of it and the first deposit might cause a budget crunch.  But then there's this niggling voice in the back of my head that says "They're your kids, you should figure it out on your own".   

Thoughts?

Heather-Mom to Tim, Isaiah, Tori, Ali, Tyler and Alex.   Some grew in my heart, others grew under it.    

We have this same issue,our oldest turned 10 this summer and was able to go to church camp. He really wanted to go but I didn't know where the $$ would come from! My parents offered to help but I hate taking money from them. Our church also has scholarships available,I wasn't sure about applying for one but everyone told me that all the kids that go get alittle from this fund. Our family tries to do as much as we can when they are doing fund raises for this account during the year,so we felt it was ok to use alittle of it ;) Also DS asked family to gift money for his b-day to put towards the cost. We ended up paying alittle less than half the amount plus his spending money.

Next year our 2nd DS wants to go so we are looking at 2 registrations...I know we will use some scholarship money for each of them :) 

Hope you figure it out and your son has a great time!

                                 Janelle,mommy to

      Ryan(6-6-99) Zachary(11-18-00) Liam(7-12-02)

     Makenzie(11-10-03) Kassidy(5-11-05) Aiden(10-20-06)

             Our VR miracle baby   Kayla Ruth(8-2-08)

 

 

That is a toughie. I know over the years my in-laws have bought things for the kids as "gifts" knowing that otherwise we might not get them that thing or it'd be tough.

It sounds like something your aunt wants to do too. If she offered, you aren't asking. KWIM? And scholarship money is there for kids to be able to do things that finances might not allow. Maybe you could take your aunt up on the offer and pay her back with something else, like doing chores or errands for her? As for the church, maybe you could contribute money towards the scholarship fund when you have extra money?

Good luck with your decision!
Hugs,