Changing leaves, pumpkin spice, football, fall festivals, fundraisers, and most importantly (for me, anyway)...candy corn. Ahhh, the joys of Fall! Well, we are officially out of summer and into my favorite season. There's just something about those cool, crisp mornings and days where jeans, sneakers, and a sweatshirt just feel perfect.
We have been back in school for almost a full month now. I must admit, it feels really good to have schedules and routines again (I know, I know, come April and May, I will be singing an entirely different tune! Just let me enjoy this moment though, while it lasts! lol) I hope everyone is adjusting well to the new school year!
If you noticed, I very subtly (or maybe not so subtly) slipped in fundraising in my opening sentence. Yep, it's that time of the year. Yay, fundraising!!!! I know many of you may not share that enthusiasm and that's perfectly understandable! Fundraising is much harder on us parents than it is on our kids! Let's face it, we do 90% of the work, and they collect the ducks! haha
Let me just take a minute to let you know just how vital this Fall fundraiser is to our group. It is the basis of where all of our funding comes from to do any of the things we do! (No pressure, right?) Seriously though, we get one fundraiser per year and that's it. All of those classroom rugs we purchased came from our Fall fundraiser last year. The field trips we helped pay for, also came from our Fall fundraiser. The Spring play... the Fall fundraiser. The 5th grade farewell? Yep, you guessed it, the Fall fundraiser paid for that too. So essentially, if we want to do those extra things for our school, for our students, we have to do well on our Fall fundraiser.
Unfortunately, every group out there is in the same boat. We're up against sports, Cub Scouts, Girl Scouts, and pretty much every other group that exists and takes money to operate. Everybody seems to fundraise in the Fall, so they have money for the year, which makes sense. We're no exception. To keep our non-profit status, we have to start the school year with less than $1,000, so we have to fundraise right off the bat in order to do anything!
We have BIG plans for this school year. We want to do a Science Night in November for our 1st and 2nd graders (and their families) and a Night of the Arts in the Spring for our 3rd and 4th graders (and their families). We want to purchase a climbing wall for the gym and some new playground equipment! Everything we want to do will only make things better for our children and our school, but unfortunately, it all takes lots of money. That's why we need everybody to help out as much as they can.
I get it, I really do. We're asking every child to try to sell 10 items. That's not easy for lots of us, I know! I have two children in Aurora this year, which means my family needs to sell 20 items. We're at 12 right now, so 8 more to go and I have no idea who we're going to ask next. I'll think of somebody though, I always do. Every item, every dollar helps. Our PTO goal is $20,000. We're shooting for the stars, but we're All Stars, right? We can do it!
I really hope to see you on October 1st for our next PTO meeting! We'll meet at 7pm in the library and as always, free childcare will be included. There will be door prizes again and who knows...maybe even some candy corn! :-)
-Lori
We have been back in school for almost a full month now. I must admit, it feels really good to have schedules and routines again (I know, I know, come April and May, I will be singing an entirely different tune! Just let me enjoy this moment though, while it lasts! lol) I hope everyone is adjusting well to the new school year!
If you noticed, I very subtly (or maybe not so subtly) slipped in fundraising in my opening sentence. Yep, it's that time of the year. Yay, fundraising!!!! I know many of you may not share that enthusiasm and that's perfectly understandable! Fundraising is much harder on us parents than it is on our kids! Let's face it, we do 90% of the work, and they collect the ducks! haha
Let me just take a minute to let you know just how vital this Fall fundraiser is to our group. It is the basis of where all of our funding comes from to do any of the things we do! (No pressure, right?) Seriously though, we get one fundraiser per year and that's it. All of those classroom rugs we purchased came from our Fall fundraiser last year. The field trips we helped pay for, also came from our Fall fundraiser. The Spring play... the Fall fundraiser. The 5th grade farewell? Yep, you guessed it, the Fall fundraiser paid for that too. So essentially, if we want to do those extra things for our school, for our students, we have to do well on our Fall fundraiser.
Unfortunately, every group out there is in the same boat. We're up against sports, Cub Scouts, Girl Scouts, and pretty much every other group that exists and takes money to operate. Everybody seems to fundraise in the Fall, so they have money for the year, which makes sense. We're no exception. To keep our non-profit status, we have to start the school year with less than $1,000, so we have to fundraise right off the bat in order to do anything!
We have BIG plans for this school year. We want to do a Science Night in November for our 1st and 2nd graders (and their families) and a Night of the Arts in the Spring for our 3rd and 4th graders (and their families). We want to purchase a climbing wall for the gym and some new playground equipment! Everything we want to do will only make things better for our children and our school, but unfortunately, it all takes lots of money. That's why we need everybody to help out as much as they can.
I get it, I really do. We're asking every child to try to sell 10 items. That's not easy for lots of us, I know! I have two children in Aurora this year, which means my family needs to sell 20 items. We're at 12 right now, so 8 more to go and I have no idea who we're going to ask next. I'll think of somebody though, I always do. Every item, every dollar helps. Our PTO goal is $20,000. We're shooting for the stars, but we're All Stars, right? We can do it!
I really hope to see you on October 1st for our next PTO meeting! We'll meet at 7pm in the library and as always, free childcare will be included. There will be door prizes again and who knows...maybe even some candy corn! :-)
-Lori