News in a Nutshell #10
June 2024
Year in Review - and Looking Ahead to 2024-2025!
Celebrating a successful 2023-2024!
Thank you to all of the many ways you contributed to our Home & School's success this year! From volunteering at events to supporting one of the monthly Hospitality Committee's teacher gifts to donating to the Stockings and Mittens Drive, we can't do it without many hands. We want send well wishes to the 5th grade families whose youngest child is in 5th grade! And for all returning families, we look forward to an amazing 2024-2025! Please read on for some recaps from 2023-2024 and preliminary dates for 2024-2025!
Check out our New Google Site
If you want the latest news, issues of smores, or other items, look no further than our new Google Site! Bookmark this page so that you can stay up to date with all of the latest happenings for our Oak Ridge Home & School. A big thank you to Matt Stone for putting this together for us!
Box Tops Earnings are "Heating Up" this Summer!
Our Box Tops earnings are “Heating up” for summer! We earned $178.30 in May!! Thank you to everyone who scanned their receipts. June is the last month for this calendar year. Our year to date total is $400.10.
Please keep scanning your receipts over summer break. The new year for Box Tops for Education begins July 1. We will have an exciting year of contests, bonuses and recipes. Don’t forget to follow the Oak Ridge Home and School Facebook page for more details.
It’s never too late to sign up for Box Tops. Here is the link to start the program today! Thanks again for all of your support.
Home & School Treasurer Summary for 2023-2024
The flea market on Saturday, June 1 was a success and we raised $1,051!! We hope to have more families and volunteers participate next year!
This year, Home & School increased our budget to nearly $29K so we could contribute more towards student events and supplies.
Here is a summary of where the H&S funds went over the year:
- We try to minimize costs for families by contributing over $6k towards field trip transportation (which equals $15 per child).
- We also contributed over $1,200 toward 5th grade picnic, $900 for classroom books, nearly $5k to teacher allotments to help cover costs for extra supplies in the classrooms.
- We also fund author for a day and back to school bash, so families do not have to pay to attend.
- We put on the annual lip sync event which costs $1,500.
- We purchased picture frames for the school hallway - you may have noticed updated pictures in the frames if you stopped by Open House!
- Other things our funds go to include hospitality, garden club, after school rec, Oakie's Caring Hearts, a high school senior award, Reading Olympics, and several others. We were also very excited to bring back sundae bar twice this year!
We did not have our large bi-annual Fun Run this spring, so we relied heavily on other ways to raise funds throughout the school year.
We raised funds through both commissions on events and through strictly fund-raising events.
We earned over $6,019 in commissions through Painting with a Twist, Sky Zone Bounce Night, clothing drive, flowers and concessions at the two concerts, spirit wear, box tops, Kona ice truck at the Back to School Bash, pizza kit fundraiser, Floral and Hardy container workshop, Shutterfly, and graduation signs.
We raised over $6,360 alone just with the Holiday Shoppe and the the spring flea market.
We spent 87% of the planned budget and raised $12,379 over the course of the school year. Through fundraising, we brought down our operating costs to under $13K!! Fundraising allows us to give back to Oak Ridge in so many ways. Please keep this in mind when you see us starting to provide details on our BIG bi-annual fundraiser, the Fun Run, on Friday, October 18th. One of our goals is to raise funds to plant some shade trees for the fields! Look for more details about the Fun Run as we start school this fall!
Where in the World is Oakie?
Don't forget to take OAKIE with you on vacation this summer! Send in your pictures by September 20, 2024. They will be displayed all year long on the designated bulletin board. You will have a chance to win a $25 gift card. We will only accept printed 5x7 photos with name/s on back of photo. We can't wait to see where Oakie goes this summer!
Did You Know??
Oak Ridge Home and School Association is tax exempt under IRS Internal Revenue Code (IRC) 501(c)3.
Donors can deduct contributions as provided in IRC. We also accept company matches for donations!
Join us on Facebook!
To stay engaged between newsletters, join our Oak Ridge Elementary Home & School Association group on Facebook! This is a great place to learn about what's coming up next and to ask questions between meetings.
Mark Your Calendar for these Dates in 2024-2025
Friday, September 6 - Back to School Bash (Rain Date: September 13)
Friday, October 11 - Bounce Night
Friday, October 18 - Fun Run
Friday, November 1 - Bingo Night