KIDS THESE DAYS:

In 2009, the average American will have a harder time qualifying for a $300,000 mortgage than General Motors had qualifying for $13.4 billion in bailout money the company is getting from taxpayers.

But even harder than qualifying for that bailout dough or that mortgage is the job our local children will have trying to raise money for their athletic and academic organizations.

Throughout the year, kids are selling cookie dough, candy, restaurant discounts, fireworks and Christmas trees, as well as hosting car washes and manning the snack bars for their events.

They earn this money the honest way, and $1 at a time.

Today, however, it’s tough to make those dollars. Today, because of the sour economy, many families are cutting back on their “wants” and settling for purchasing only what they need.

Even those households that have not experienced a reduction in income are scaling back. Where they used to buy five boxes of Girl Scout cookies, they are buying only two. Homes that have been hit by the economy aren’t buying any.

Today, kids must work harder than ever to get the same money they raised a couple of years ago. And even with that extra work, they’re still going to come up short.

This is not a time for youth organizations to be wringing their hands over lost revenue, it is a time for them to be creative about their fundraising; to do the things they should have been doing during the fat years.

A high school baseball team, for example, could do the following:

1) Sell the fun of throwing out the first pitch at every game

2) Sell the excitement of a couple of seats in the dugout to sit with the team

3) Sell baseballs signed by the entire team (a good present for a player on the team).

And I am checking on what we have to do to sell naming rights to fields, gymnasiums, courts and pools in the district and will report back on that. (“Smith Field” has a nice ring to it, no?)

Creative fundraising could be applied to any sport, whether it is tennis, water polo or soccer. The main thing is to start kicking around ideas. As I learned working in an ad agency many years ago, one idea leads to two, two ideas leads to four and so on.

Our kids need our help more than ever. So I am going to ask two things of you over the next few days and weeks.

The first one is easy: Please share with readers and your fellow fundraisers some of the creative ideas you have developed to raise money during the recession. You can do that by posting your idea in the comments section that follows this column’s online version.

The second one is a bit tougher. Most of us are still going out to eat once in awhile or still enjoying some fun here and there. For the second task, I would like you to consider spending one of those days or nights at home and donating the money you would have spent to a local youth organization.

In case you are wondering whether it’s all worth it, whether in the long run your contribution will make a difference, here is a quote from a recent story in the Los Angeles Times about Curt Schilling, one of baseball’s greatest pitchers:

“He also recalled, sadly, a Little League game when Schilling’s team had a one-run lead in the bottom of the seventh with two outs when their catcher threw a ball into right field and blew their chance to reach the Little League World Series. Schilling called it his ‘most heart-wrenching loss.’”

Imagine: After all of his big-league milestones, Schilling still aches over a Little League game from decades ago.

That’s the type of impact these activities have on our kids. And that is the type of memory you can create with your donation.

There is no bailout money for these youth programs, there is only you.

STEVE SMITH is a Costa Mesa resident and a freelance writer. Send story ideas to dailypilot@latimes.com.