Last Friday we had the school year’s first major fundraiser, the 7th Annual Fall Fling. It was a fun filled evening complete with face painting, bouncy house jumping, food, raffles, laughter prizes and music.
There are a few highlights I wanted to share with families from that evening:
* We started selling raffle tickets several weeks prior to the event, and guess who was our first customer? We sold our first raffle ticket to a 1935 Curley student!
* Many parents and tons of kids took turns selling raffle tickets in front of JP Licks in the weekends leading up to the event. Many others also took stacks of tickets home to sell to family and friends – a critical part of our success were these very sales!
* Kim Taylor-Knight added color and pizzazz to the evening with her dancing troupe performing a flash mob delighting the families.
* Dozens of themed baskets, donated by parents and organized with care by parent Jennifer Taub, drew interest and crowds
* We had VIP guests in attendance too: John Connolly, Liz Malia (representing Marty Walsh) and Matt O’Malley all came out.
* The Apple iPad mini winner was our second grade Curley student, Zoe Williams! I am especially glad that she won, because moments before she was holding the winning ticket for one of the baskets, but was not able to make her way through the excited crowd in time to claim her prize. She remained quiet and calm, but I felt bad for her and promised to find a way to make it up to her. Moments later, she won the iPad. This time around she was still calm, but happier!
This event was a major team effort and wouldn’t have happened if it weren’t for everyone helping out however they can:
* Parents Kieran Fitzgibbons, Heshan Berents-Weeramnuni, Ian Whittle, Riaz Ahmed, John McLoughlin and Jon Gummer and a number of Curley students helped bring sound dampening boards, tables and chairs into the gym, and took them back out at the end of the evening.
* Jess Ormsby, Pamela Yosca, Sunny Schwarts, Noreen Power helped sell tickets, without a break all evening!
* Kristin Jurkoic was at the ready for anything – she decorated the Thrift Shop and Halloween costumes corner singlehandedly.
* Katie Fitch, Molly Mariano held up the fort selling Curley shirt and buttons, and Curley’s own apple butter made by Flo Zimmerman and Laura Kollett.
* Lisa Foulger helped cover the bouncy house – a task that I noticed many parents were not too keen on taking on! But kids really did enjoy it 🙂
* Beth Bendavid-Val, Kristin Shapiro, Dana Willeke and other parents helped sell pizza, hot food, sandwiches and beverages.
* Our principal, Ms. Katie Grassa remained at the event until the very end, helping with clean up efforts – and contributing a toy basket. Maria Monteiro-Roby and Betty Alvaredo provided a lot of support before and during the event.
* A very special thank you goes out to the Tenacity group for providing much needed support: Marie Agosta, Jesse Doran, Amy Mulvena, Ed Martinez, Carmen Rodi and Colleen Masson.
As parents we’ve often heard the term, ‘it takes a village’, well in this case it really does! Thank you to everyone for contributing, participating, and coming out to have some fun.
Until next time, stay well,
Inci Kaya
SPC Fundraising Chair
