Because You Gave
Fundraising in a pandemic has been an interesting endeavor. There were all sorts of questions. Should and/or could we even conduct a fundraiser? Would people support it? Was it the right time? Would it be perceived as insensitive? Could we do it safely? How could we do it in a way that was fun and exciting for our students? We bit the bullet and decided to give it a try because we are in a business (and we have to run as such) that depends on our constituents' generosity. And, it turned out that our students had a BLAST!
The fundraisers we do have specific purposes. As our Annual Fund chairs state so well in our recent video, we target specific projects throughout our school that we would like to improve that tuition dollars simply do not cover. Once again, under the direction of Director of Development Ellen Baggenstoss and her assistant Tina Bowen, our most recent fundraiser was a HUGE success. Over $40,000 was raised in our Bobcat Spartan Color Run edition. I am excited to share how those monies will benefit our students and how you, as parents, can see that your support truly makes a difference in our school. Because of the Color Run's success, the following projects that represent over $35,000 of improvements will be completed in the next couple of weeks.
New Turf - Over the last few months, we have had a drainage issue that led to the turf in our K3 and K4 play area becoming a tripping hazard. The ground under the turf was the issue. We recently had that issue addressed, but we had to cut up the turf to get to the affected area. You have probably noticed that a large piece of turf has been missing. I am happy to say new turf has been ordered and will be installed in the next couple of weeks.
Gym Repair - The gym is the oldest part of our facility and is over 90 years old! We recently had the roof replaced, but unfortunately, before it was replaced, a fairly significant water leak came down the sidewall of our gym and did extensive damage to the wall. The paint has bubbled up and regularly flakes off, and if we are honest, it just doesn't look good. This will be repaired and painted very soon.
Refinished Gym Floor - If you have spent any time in our gym, you are probably aware that our floor needs refinishing. I believe it has been about 11 years since it was last refinished. With the amount of traffic that the floor sees each day (and on most nights as many volleyball and basketball teams use it for practice), it is well past overdue in needing this work. We can not wait to see how fresh the new paint on the walls and the refinished floor make this space look.
New Lights - As you all know, we recently completed our construction project on the 2nd floor (Hub and 3 new classrooms). As a part of this project, we also replaced the lights in our hallway with new LED lights. They have made an incredible difference in the way our hallway looks. We will be finishing all other areas on the 2nd floor that were not around the construction area with new LED lights. This means our 2nd and 3rd-grade hall and the area behind the gym, where are Spanish and Art classes are. In addition to being much more efficient, they are brighter and simply look better. They also require much less maintenance than our traditional lights.
New Desk Partitions - We originally purchased over 200 desk partitions for our 1st-5th grade students to help ensure our students are safe while in class each day. The partitions do not work well for our younger students because of their size. They are being replaced with new clear partitions. They have arrived and will begin appearing in all 1st and 2nd classrooms in the next week.
BECAUSE YOU GAVE, we can complete these projects for our students and school. Every donation, large and small, added up to be significant and make a great impact! Thank you for your support, willingness to participate, and, most importantly, your belief in our school's mission and vision.