This year has again been an active year for the Stockbridge PTO. Our board members include Melissa Thompson, President, Priscella Wardwell, Vice President, Karen Johnson, Treasurer, and Erin Shirley, Secretary. Active members include Carl and Julie Groppe, Dan and Melissa Levy, Chris Thompson, Bill Johnson, Kathie Burns, Drew and Rebecca Smith, Michelle Merrill, Jen Merrill, Katrina and Jim Munyon, Rhonda Shumann, Fern Rogers and Pam Neff. Please excuse us if we have failed to mention anyone. We truly appreciate everyone's support! The PTO had applied last year for non-profit status and through the blood, sweat and tears of Karen, we are now officially non-profit.
Exciting changes have been taking place within our school community which we hope will have a global effect on ours and surrounding communities. The Recreation Committee has been very hard at work, as you can see from the physical changes outside the school, and more will be on the way for the future. As you may already know, this committee had spearheaded the grant that we received to upgrade our current athletic field and school grounds. We have specifics and drawings on the current and proposed upgrades if anyone would like to take a look.
Fundraising efforts have been strong as usual this year and have included: Little Caesar's Pizza Kits, Pizza Hut discount cards, Halladay's Soup and Dip mixes, Christmas wreath sales, monthly spaghetti dinners, a Sweetheart Breakfast, as well as a few others. All of these events were great successes. Thanks to all of our neighbors near and far for supporting our efforts!
Funds raised this year were used for various activities to support the school including winter sleds, numerous field trips, and the artist-in-residence for our upcoming plays, Read Street Book fair, art supplies, garden supplies and more. The PTO again sponsored a Halloween Party at the school featuring a haunted meadow, a pumpkin hunt, and a pizza party. We also sponsored a Thanksgiving dinner for the students, faculty, staff and parents at the school. A repeat event hosted by the PTO this year was the Holiday Dinner. Staff and parents enjoyed each others company as well as a lovely plated meal at Tozier's in December. New to this year is additional funding to help support the parenting classes currently being taken by several community parents. At the end of the school year, we will do something for our annual school staff appreciation.
As you can see we are a busy group of fun people. We do truly need more support - strength is in numbers. It is difficult to have to rely on the same people to do bulk of the work so we are asking to see some more volunteers on our side. Stop in at a meeting sometime on the first Tuesday of each month at 6:30pm in the school library. We'd love to have you!
