St. Joseph's PTO Information for February

Between the pending storm, a planned night out at Chili's on Thursday, and the fact that there is not much new to discuss this month, there will not be a February PTO meeting. Of course if anyone ever has a question, suggestion, problem, comment, etc., please feel free to give us a call or send an e-mail.

Thanks,

John & Ann Dignam
St. Joseph's School PTO
johndignam@aol.com

SAVE THE DATE FOR COMING EVENTS -

February 11th - This Thursday is St. Joseph's night at Chili's - bring a copy of the attached flyer to Chili's on Thursday night to Chili's and Chili's will donate 10% of your bill back to St. Joseph's. By special arrangement Thursday has been declared a 'no homework' night, to help make it easier for folks to attend. This special promotion runs all day (11am to 9pm) so stop by for lunch, dinner, takeout, or whatever suits you. The gift card program had stocked up on Chili's gift cards for this event and every one of them was sold. Thanks to everyone who purchased a gift card to "Double Dip" on this fund raiser.

March 18th - Family Movie Night at St. Joseph's. Here is the big picture - we'll be showing a recent release in the auditorium. $5 will get you a bottled water, a bag of popcorn, and admission to the movie. Other standard movie treats will be available for purchase. Kids are welcome to come in pajamas. Expected movie start time is 7PM and the evening should be wrapped up by 9PM. (Please note that this is not a "drop off" event)

March 19th - St. Joseph's Day - the PTO is planning an ice cream social for the students during the school day

May 7th - Teacher appreciation luncheon. This is expected to be a half-day of school. Help will be needed with the lunch and with providing coverage for the after school program. If you can help please contact Patty Kiernan.

June 4, 5, 6 - Spring Clothing Drive - The clothing drive will take place Friday, Saturday & Sunday the first weekend in June. Drop off will be at the garage behind the rectory just like the Fall Clothing Drive. Men's, Women's & Children's clothing & accessories, linens, stuffed animals and hard toys are accepted

UPDATES

The Yankee Candle fundraiser is in progress until February 22nd. Be sure to check it out for some great Mother's Day gift ideas!

A+ at Stop & Shop - 122 families are currently signed up, our total earnings so far exceed $540. If you shop at Stop & Shop and have not yet registered your card, the program runs another couple of months so it is not too late to join in. www.stopandshop.com

The Parish is gearing up for the annual Golf Outing "In Support of St. Joseph's School" to be held in the Spring. If you are interested in being part of the Golf Committee, please call the Rectory, at 277-3765, and leave your name. All are welcome to be part of this important event. Outing details to follow.

The science lab tables arrived just in time for the Open House held during Catholic Schools Week and are now set up in the classroom. The teacher's demonstration table is expected in the next 2-4 weeks as each of these is built to order. Coupled with some grant money, a handful of generous parent donations 'earmarked' for this project helped us get all the furniture ordered at once which was a significant hurdle. Going forward we plan to acquire more educational materials allowing student to work in smaller groups and get more 'hands on' time with the equipment. Some of the grant opportunities we have pursued for this project have dried up however we do have have two grant applications in progress that I believe will eventaully come through, allowing us to have a great lab in place for September. Of course every little bit helps, so If anyone has a suggestion for where to look for additional grants or in-kind donations please send me an e-mail with the details. johndignam@aol.com

NEXT YEAR

Yes, we are already looking ahead to next year, especially for those events that take place early in the year like Innisbrook and the Fall Clothing Drive. If you have not already done so, please consider getting involved and running or learning to run an event. None of them are that hard (although some do take a little more time and effort than others). An issue that just about every volunteer organization wrestles with is that many of the same people run the same event year after year or they run multiple events in a single year. This puts us at risk for losing that experience when parents follow their children to high school or for burning out those who take on so many tasks. Many hands makes light work and so we need to make a point of getting more people involved. If you are interested in getting more involved in PTO or school activities please let us know.