Direct Appeal 2016/2017
Dear Oakton families, friends and staff,
As Co-Presidents of YOUR Oakton PTA, we write today to kick-off our fall fundraising drive and ask for the support of our entire Oakton community of families, staff and friends. We recognize the demands on your time and resources, so we want to make this fundraising activity easy by inviting you to contribute directly to our PTA operating fund. Your gift makes an immediate impact on what we can achieve for our kids and our dynamic and richly diverse school community this year.
Every dollar raised through this fundraising drive contributes towards our $12,500 fundraising goal for the year. These dollars are budgeted for a wide range of projects that support learning, access and enrichment, like:
- Our thriving Oakton School garden, already a great source of pride and recognition in the Evanston community. Not only is it beautiful and edible, but it is providing meaningful educational opportunities for Oakton students. They’re writing poetry in our garden, learning about healthy eating and understanding how plants grow.
- Making sure all Oakton students have access to enrichment activities, regardless of their family’s financial means. We are supporting scholarships for fifth-graders to attend Camp Timberlee, underwriting in-school music enrichment performances for all students that expose them to music styles from around the world and funding new creative software for iPads in our first-grade classrooms.
- Providing brand-new uniforms for our inter-school sports teams. We want to show Evanston how proud we are of our basketball and flag football players when they face off against other District 65 teams. And we want to make our kids feel proud to represent Oakton.
- Ensuring Oakton students and families have access to FREE wellness activities and interventions. We’re making sure Oakton students who need eyeglasses can get them. We’re also sponsoring wellness activities like our running and soccer clubs, as well as nutrition seminars, free of charge for families.
It is quick and easy for you to make a difference for our students. You can give online via our secure PayPal site by using the buttons to your right — best of all — you can spread your donation out over time by making an automatic monthly contribution.
If you’re an Oakton family with one student, would you consider $10 per month? If you have two students at Oakton, please consider $20 per month. One-time contributions of $50 per student—or whatever you can comfortably afford to give—are also most welcome and greatly appreciated! If you prefer to make your contribution via check, you can make it out to the Oakton PTA and leave it in our mailbox in the main office.
Thank you so much for your partnership and support. We are honored to serve our Oakton Cougars and create the best-possible learning community for all of our children.
Sincerely,
Tanya Brown and Daniela Nelke
PTA Co-Presidents
Other Ways To Fundraise For Oakton
Box Tops
This is one easy way to raise money for Story Store.
Look for and clip box tops from products with the Box Tops for Education logo. Turn them in to your child’s teacher or drop them in the collection box in the office. We earn $0.10 for every box top, and last year we made nearly $500. Our first collection deadline is the end of November 2015. If you shop online, you can sign up at www.boxtops4education.com. Click on “Marketplace” to see which retailers will donate a percentage of sales to Oakton. Please contact Debi Lewis at debi at jebraweb dot com if you have any questions.
Clothes 4 Charity Drop Box
Just by donating your old clothes into the blue drop box, located in the school’s parking lot, you help fundraising money for Oakton School.
Just place your items in the blue drop box, located in the school’s parking lot (and call 773-394-8828 for a tax receipt). Clothes 4 Charity collects all these items which are then sold in bulk to thrift stores. Oakton will receive a portion of the amount donated.
Accepted items:
- Clothing (men, women, and children)
- Hats, belts, purses
- Shoes
- Non-breakable small household items that will fit into a kitchen size trash bag (13 gallon).
For more information of what items Clothes 4 Charity accepts, please click here.
Food 4 Less Share program
Food 4 Less is a local retailer that offers such program, by which a portion of your total bill is donated back to our school. It’s easy to sign up, just ask for details in store.