Merriam PTO N2K ( Need to Know)

From the PTO Board: Neena Arora, Kristina Rychlik, Dianna McNeish and Eleni Digenis-Bury

Week of 10/3/11

10/4  Tuesday – Camp Fair Kickoff Meeting 7:30 PM in School Library

10/7  Friday – Community Day

10/10  Monday – No School

10/11  Tuesday --  School Council Meeting 6:00 to 7:30 PM

10/15 Saturday – Merriam Fall Fair 4 – 7 PM

                             Merriam Wear Fundraiser begins

10/26  Wednesday – Early Dismissal

11/1    Tuesday – Professional Day, No School for Students

                             Teacher Appreciation Luncheon

11/2  Wednesday – PTO Meeting 6:00 PM (with sitter)

11/30  Wednesday – Teachers vs PTO Basketball Game 6:00 PM

Spend a small amount of time to be part of Merriam's very successful 2nd-largest fundraiser, the Camp Fair! With many systems now automated, tasks are faster, requiring less time per volunteer than ever before, so take on as little or as much as you'd like.  Hone some web skills, see how we run a huge event involving several hundred people, be part of the success!  Join us Tues. Oct. 4 at 7:30pm in the school library to hear more about it, and about the different kinds of help needs. And save the Camp Fair date -- Thursday, Jan 26, 2012! Questions? Please contact Marisa Olson ( marisaandgeorge@comcast.net).

This year our big fall fundraiser is the Merriam Fall Fair that all of you have been hearing so much about!  Your wonderful room parents have come up with great games for children of all ages to be held in the cafetorium.  There will be fun fair foods such as popcorn, cotton candy and caramel apples.  You can pre-order barbecue from Red Bones on the preorder form that went home in backpacks on Friday.  Other special activities include the climbing wall and dancing in the gym and a cake walk.  Please mark your calendars, volunteer to help out and come enjoy an old fashioned fair with your family on Saturday, October 15^th from 4:00 to 7:00 PM!  We would love your help and participation to make this fundraiser and community event a big success! 

We need volunteers to help set up, sell concessions and tickets, serve food and clean up. If you can’t make it to the Fall Fair you can still contribute by baking and donating a cake or pie for the cake walk. To volunteer or donate a baked good, please contact Danielle Fredericks at (978) 429-8057 or DANIELLEFREDERICKS@YAHOO.COM

At the Fall Fair please look for the Merriam Wear table where you will find samples of Merriam Wear that can be ordered online!

We are pleased to announce that Charles Mathews and Chuck Pollak were elected to be our new representatives in the Merriam School Council. 86 ballots were returned with roughly 23% of the families voting. Thank you Charles and Chuck for taking on this role and thank you to everyone who participated in the election.

Hospitality: Merriam’s Hospitality Committee provides refreshments for a number of events throughout the school year, including a fabulous teacher appreciation lunch planned for November 1^st this year.  To help, contact Ali Stanton and Claire McCarthy (merriamptohospitality@yahoo.com).

The Merriam PTO is pleased to once again offer families the Scrip Shopping Card Program.  This is a program where you can purchase gift cards to many of the places where you already shop or eat at no additional cost to you, and the Merriam PTO earns a percentage of each card. Please look for more information and the first SCRIP order forms that will be sent home October 7^th.

Plans for this fun game are underway.  The basketball game committee is looking for volunteers to help make this event another huge success.  If you are interested in helping, please contact Carrie Mathews (carrie275@aol.com).

PTO Basketball Team :  We will soon be recruiting players for the PTO team, and the one requirement for joining the team is that you volunteer for some PTO event.  There are many volunteer opportunities coming up – the Fall Fair, Camp Fair, and Merriam Auction.  To find out more about volunteer opportunities, please contact Neena Arora ( neenaarora@aol.com) .

MAKE MONEY FOR MERRIAM WHEN YOU SHOP!

Hard to believe, but you can raise money for Merriam just by collecting a few things when you shop. These programs have raised thousands of dollars and earned FREE school supplies for Merriam, and you can help! Here’s how: 

Do you buy Yoplait yogurt? Viva paper towels? Kleenex tissues? These are just a few of the many items that have the small BoxTops for Education stamp on them. Just collect the stamps. 

If you shop at Donelan’s, save your cash register receipts from September 1 to March 31.

Send your BoxTops stamps and Donelan’s receipts in to school with your child -- there’s a box in the office to collect them. And that’s it! If you have any questions, contact Sandy Cummings at sbcummings1@verizon.net