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Community Corner

Whiz Kids: Greg Gelinsky, Max And Adam Bechtold

Greg Gelinsky and twin brothers Adam and Max Bechtold biked throughout Madison selling a record number of navel oranges and pink grapefruit for the Daniel Hand High School Music Boosters fundraiser.

 

Accomplishments:  Greg Gelinsky and twin brothers Adam and Max Bechtold worked tirelessly for 2 ½ weeks selling navel oranges and pink grapefruit for the Daniel Hand High School Music Boosters fundraiser - coming in first and second place for most fruit sold.

To get the top honor, Greg sold 59 cartons of fruit for a grand total of $1,655.  Between the actual sales and donations from various people he was able to raise about $500 for his personal account reserved for the band’s trip to Disney in spring 2012. 

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Max and Adam Bechtold got the second place honor, selling 51 cartons and earning $410.03 for their student account.  While officially it was Max who won second prize the brothers worked as a team to raise the money for their personal account.

Key to Awesomeness:   Greg explains that he hopped on his bike every single day for 2 ½ weeks and rode as far as 6 miles away from home to sell as much fruit as he possibly could.  Joining with him, in a friendly competition, were the Bechtold brothers.

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“It wasn’t a competition necessarily,” said Greg. It really was a way for the three boys to work together to raise as much money as they could for the band! It was also good to have company while soliciting people they didn’t know.  “We always went together, we didn’t go out alone selling,” said Greg.  “We would only go out alone if we knew the people.”

The boys rode their bikes throughout town, knocking on doors and selling cartons of fresh Florida Indian River Groves citrus fruit, to raise money for student music trips, student scholarships, and needed equipment that the education budget does not cover.

The money earned is split between Indian River Groves, the band boosters and the boys’ band account for the group's trip to Disney in spring 2012.

For Max Bechtold getting second place was nice, but not something he was necessarily working towards.  “I think Greg really just wanted to be in first place. I didn’t care, I just kept going. It doesn’t hurt, it just helps us pay for the trip anyway,” said Max.

Greg, on the other hand, views the honor differently.  “It feels pretty good,” said Greg.  “I actually went out and interacted with the people that I was selling to and got out in the world like an actual salesman that would go to different clients and try to sell them a product.  It gave me a little bit of a real world experience.”

“We’re very proud of him,” says Greg’s mom, Anne.  “I really had no idea that he would end up being that motivated and everyday going out and going door to door.  It could be raining out and he’d be out there on his bicycle. I think he’s got a little bit of an entrepreneurial spirit.”

“Once he started to see that he was successful at it he stuck to it and realized that it was very possible he could get first prize and he could really earn a lot of money for the school and also towards his trip,” said Anne.

Greg admits that the $50.00 cash bonus was a nice incentive and personally he said like the idea of “having bragging rights” for the honor!

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