What's going on....

Almost February already! We have a fun event coming up that Jacob's Gift is co-sponsoring called a Princesses & Super Heroes Ball. It's at Elm Ridge Party Center again, thanks Joyce & Daryl! Same as last year with DJ Jake Matthews, photographer (thanks Jeff Rhodes for donating photos!), Billy the Kid magician & facepainting. It's mainly geared towards preschool-2nd-3rd grades. I'm wearing my ball gown again. Let's hope I remember my change of clothes this time so I'm not running a sweeper in my gown again!

Jacob's Gift is paying for the DJ & magician. I have some wonderful 7th grade girls volunteering to facepaint. Mr. LaRiccia, our principal, is our greeter again. I'm hoping families of preschoolers will attend also.

I'm in the process of donating a large portion of what was raised at our Night at the Races to Stinson Elementary. I guess there is a need for some technology related items so I will keep the blog posted.

H & R Block is running a promotion if you are a new client to them, they will donate $25 to a charity. I am working with the Athletic Charity Committee at the high school on this. A flyer is being sent home with more information. I have donated to the ACC in appreciation of volunteer efforts of our athletes.

Mr. Hexamer at the high school is working on a beneficiary of $500 that was to be donated to the band for their volunteering efforts at our PTO's Dinner With Dad. They wanted me to keep the money so I've decided to find something in one of our schools that related to music to donate that money towards. Once again, I will post what is decided.

I'm organizing a class reunion the Saturday after Thanksgiving this year for my high school 20 yr reunion from Chippewa. We are having a Mass Class Reunion with classes of '86-'91. I thought would be really fun & lots more people. We're doing a 50/50 during the reunion to benefit a scholarship at Doylestown. Anyway, I'm not sure when I will do my next Night at the Races since this event will take lots of my energy. Probably next January. It's cold & we need something fun to do then, right? The races just take a lot of time planning & gathering items so I want to have time to devote to it.

I will not have any children at the elementary school next year so I will not be PTO Prez. I really want to focus on Jacob's Gift & expand lots of our outreach. I'm really benefitting from name recognition now with our charity so I don't want to lose momentum.

If you live here, please vote Yes on Feb. 3rd for our school levy. Please also support the next call for more funding to finish our building projects. If we do not obtain the $29 mil from the state by August, we will lose it. It will be really disappointing.

I am really proud of my fellow PTO board members and our efforts this year. Our hearts are in the right place. We have tried to welcome new Kindergarten parents with fun activities & create fun community environment. We all have worked our tails off in planning some awesome events. Carnival is just around the corner. Jacob's Gift will once again be providing a Sponge Bob Bounce House & Speed Pitch game.

I've been emailing a mom who is currently at Children's Hospital waiting test results of an MRI for her daughter. She is a newborn in the NICU. They do not know if she will be ok or if they will have to make a decision like we did with Jacob. My heart just breaks for her and even though it has been 10 years for us, it's like yesterday. I want to give her a hug and tell her it will be alright. I want to magically give her a wonderful outcome and save her from what we have been through. It is just so unfair.

I've also been working with Shauna Martin, Shelbi's mom. Shelbi is a 5 yr old in Heaven. She passed away last year of a brain tumor. She has twin sisters who's girl scout troop painted memory boxes at their meeting last week. I'm taking their troop up to Children's in a few weeks so they can hand them out to babies in the NICU. I know it will be hard on Shauna but I really think she will benefit so much from this trip. They are planning a Night at the Races to benefit their ice cream truck that will be up & running soon. Proceeds benefit Wishes Can Happen. I will post information when it is planned & I hope to be able to help them make it an awesome event for all.

We have been transferring old home video tapes to DVDs and watching them. How times goes by so quickly. How we get involved in so many activities, we forget to stop and enjoy the down time. I'm trying to plan more down time which for those of you who know me, you may think impossible. I do enjoy all the great things I get to be involved in. I love giving back. I love helping others. I see these qualities in my children and I pray it sticks.

Until next time......

Joanna