Kiddo! Takes on a New Challengeup
If you’re the parent of a child at Strawberry Point School or Mill Valley Middle School, it’s time to get out the checkbook. Kiddo! has designated May 1 as Donation Day, and although it will be a festive event, this year the parent fundraising organization needs more support than ever.
With the specter of state budget cuts looming, the Mill Valley School District is facing redistributing its funds to support vital programs such as special education, which would mean eliminating others. At risk are classroom and library aides, but rather than lose the valued student services they provide, Kiddo! — the Mill Valley Schools Foundation — plans to raise extra funds to fill the gap. “Kiddo! is the perfect organization to step up and try to fund classroom aides and library aides,” said Lis Fuchs, a Strawberry Point School parent who is chairman of the Kiddo! board. “If we can’t do it, we’re going to have some serious problems in November.
“May 1 is the launch of our 2008 annual-giving campaign,” said Fuchs, and by that time, parents should have received a packet in the mail with the details of the annual solicitation.
This year “a generous family” that wants to encourage others to give their support has offered up to $25,000 to match donations from first-time givers. Fuchs hopes that families new to the district and those who have not participated before will make contributions. She pointed out that all students in the district benefit. “Kiddo! is all about fundraising equitably — all kids, all schools,” she said.
Kiddo! was established in 1982, when public schools were going through tough financial times, to raise the extra money necessary to give children a well-rounded, quality education. The nonprofit organization pays for art, music, dance, poetry, drama and technology. Its mission is to provide the support that will allow kids to reach their full potential.
Kiddo! is asking parents to donate $750 per child, although “donations at any level are welcome,” said Fuchs, emphasizing that participation is important, and even small amounts make a difference. This year’s donations will go to fund programs in the 2008-09 school year.
Although drop boxes at the schools on May 1 are an easy way for parents to give, they don’t have to go to school to make donations. They can drop, click or mail them.
Strawberry is well represented on the Kiddo! board. In addition to Fuchs, Lori Coopersmith is vice-chair, Strawberry Point School representative Joan Kermath is eScrip representative, and Jonathan Rolnick is the board attorney.
In addition to its annual-giving campaign, Kiddo! raises money through business partnerships, shopping programs and an endowment. For more information or to donate online, go to http://kiddo.org.
Tiburon Town Historian Bran Fanning paid third graders at Bel Aire School a visit on April 2, to share some inside information on life in Tiburon.
In a question and answer session, kids asked about Rosie Verral, Tiburon’s “goat lady,” who was inducted posthumously into the Marin Women’s Hall of Fame recently. Although he did not know her well, Fanning said that everyone knew who she was. “She walked every place, wearing black. … Widows did that in those days. … Everybody said ‘Watch out for Rosie’ because she walked along the side of the road,” he said.
Fanning told students that he has written books on Tiburon, Angel Island and the Tiburon Peninsula and is working on one about Marin’s maritime history. “I don’t think of them so much as history books as family albums,” he said, because the books contain lots of photographs. “I learned a lot,” he said. “That’s one of the interesting things about history. The more you learn, the more you realize you don’t know much.
“We’re writing about history, but you’re going to be making it.” he told students.
Local history is a focus of third-grade social studies, and students also visited the Landmarks Society’s Railroad & Ferry Depot Museum and the China Cabin to get a feel for the past.
Pennies Add Up
Students at St. Hilary School recently raised more than $6,000 for Pennies for Patients, a fundraiser for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society that will aid research. The sixth-grade class topped the effort, and seventh graders were a close second. The children gathered pennies from around their own houses and encouraged their families and friends to make donations. This is the fifth year in a row that students have participated in this worthy cause.
