The Gazette

I’ve had a lot on my plate lately and it’s stressing me out. I get this way every May and June because there is just so much going on. When I’m stressed out, I don’t sleep well, which is not always a bad thing as you’ll see in a minute. One night while I was lying awake (not sleeping); I got to thinking about our schools and how much trouble they were going to be in financially next year. I got to wondering if there wasn’t something I could do to help.

I am somewhat unique in that I belong to 2 different service groups; I am the President of the Kiwanis Club and the Treasurer for the Rotary Club. Because I serve in both of these groups, I see where the money goes, and I have to tell you that the way we fund the schools is pretty haphazard. There are an awful lot of programs that fall through the cracks and don’t get any funding from any of the service clubs. Recognizing this situation, I decided that to be truly effective at supporting our kids, we (the service clubs) need to have a more strategic plan, a more focused goal.

So I called a "World Summit Meeting" with the leaders of all the clubs. I pointed out how haphazardly we are currently funding school programs and I made a proposal. I proposed that each service club "adopt" a specific school. That club would join the PTA, and make a concentrated effort to support them with all of their fund raising projects and school programs. The service club would also act as the community liaison coordinating support from the community. Each school would have a service club partner. I also proposed that the service clubs come together for a weekend (or 2) in late July or early August and collect donations of basic school supplies outside of Wal-Mart and/or Target. (I haven’t confirmed anything with them yet, but it’s on the agenda for next week). I came up with this idea when I got a note home from school saying that they were out of copy paper and asking each parent to send a ream to school with their child. They were also out of Kleenex, hand sanitizer, pencils and erasers. If we could get people to buy a little extra as they do their school shopping, we could distribute it to the schools throughout the year. I also plan to approach Staples, Office Depot and Office Max about donating a couple of cases of paper.

The Principals that I managed to speak to about this were very excited, and so were the people in the school offices. The Service Clubs are whole-heartedly in favor, and so is the one PTA Officer I was able to track down. In fact, I haven’t had any negative feedback at all. It’s not a matter of any of us working harder; more it’s just that we’ll be working smarter. And our kids will benefit!

As I mentioned, next week’s agenda is about contacting Wal-Mart and Target to get their support. I have also heard that Kohl’s has a similar program where they adopt a school and provide backpacks. They’re on my list too.

You’ll be seeing and hearing more about this program in future issues of the Gazette. I have been elected Grand Poobah and Jackie Gonzales is the Vice Poobah for this "Support Our Schools" program, and you can contact either of us with your ideas and suggestions. If you know of someone who would be supportive of this plan, or if there is something we have over-looked, please let us know.

As always, you can reach me at 384-6900, or via email at renee.bailey@rabobank.com. I look forward to hearing from you.