Manchester Community Schools Foundation: 2019, A year in review

submitted by Shea Van Vuuren, Manchester Community Schools Foundation 

The Manchester Community Schools Foundation had a wonderful year in 2019, combining new events with annual favorites. 

We were able to provide grants and scholarships to benefit the students of Manchester Community Schools through the generosity and support of the Manchester Community. We began 2019 with a grant to bring the Watch Dogs program to Riverside Intermediate. This program encourages dads, grandpas, uncles and other men to volunteer in the school. February brought “The Greatest Show” dance for girls and their guests. 

In March, we assisted the school district with Crazy Ca$h Night, and awarded a grant for a Maker Space at Klager. We tried a new event, the Mother-Son Fun Night out at Kelly Inflatables in April since feedback we had gotten said boys were less interested in dancing and more interested in running around. In May we had another successful celebrity server night thanks to staff volunteers and our serving locations, Frank’s Place and Kellie’s. 

In June we were honored to recognize all the 2018-2019 Students of the Month at a banquet and to award our second annual Student of the Month Scholarship to Elizabeth O’Hotzke. We also funded the Salutatorian scholarship, given to Owen Whitney, as the Civic Club who previously funded it, had disbanded. We performed our yearly review of applications for the Mary Nosbicsh and Stand Up Spirit Scholarship applications to choose recipients.

September marked the beginning of a new school year and a time to brainstorm our plans for the coming year. In October we tried another new event, Mother-Son day at Alber’s Orchard. We received a lot of positive feedback for this event, as the mothers and sons felt it provided an opportunity to spend quality time together. We will be planning this event again for the fall of 2020. 

All of these things are possible with the support of our community through participation in our fundraising events, as well as direct donations of patrons and scholarship sponsors. We are always looking for people who would like to join us in serving the students of Manchester. Our meetings are the first Wednesday of the month at 6:30 pm in the Klager Synergy Center and are open to everyone.

We are happy to announce that Early Bird Registration for the 2020 “Hearts and Flowers” Daddy-Daughter dance is now open. Visit our website or Facebook page for more information.

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by Sara Swanson

Sara Swanson is an editor, writer and founder of the Manchester Mirror.