Weekly Update 3/15

Dear Wines Families, 

Literacy Night Tomorrow!

Join the Wines community tomorrow from 6-8pm for Literacy Night! At 6pm, everyone will gather in the cafeteria to enjoy a Reader's Theater starring Wines staff members. From 6:20-7:10, your family will have the opportunity to join teachers and special guests for read alouds and literacy activities in classrooms. You can also meet local author, Makiah Shipp, and illustrators, Hannah Anderson and Ebba Gurney. At 7:15, you can listen to local legend, professional storyteller, and retired AADL librarian, Laura Pershin Raynor, who will end our evening with a performance. It’s going to be a wonderful night of community, stories, and sharing!

Disability Awareness Workshop Coordinator Needed

Another tradition returns to Wines this spring with our annual 4th grade Disability Awareness Day. Because our 5th graders did not get the chance to have the experience last year, we are hopeful that the 5th graders can join as well. We need a parent volunteer to help coordinate the event. The coordinator simply works with the Center for Independent Living who organizes the event on logistics, scheduling, etc. In addition, we will need additional parent volunteers and the coordinator helps solicit those volunteers. You do not need to be a 4th or 5th grade parent to be the coordinator. In fact, it is nice to have a parent of a younger student take on the role so that they can do it for more than one year. If you are interested or have any questions, please contact me directly. The date of the event is May 24. Thanks for your consideration! 

Food Gatherers/Rotary Club Food Drive

As I indicated Monday, we are currently collecting non-perishable food items until March 17. Collection bins are located in the front hallway at our main entrance. Let’s fill up our bins! Literacy Night is a great time to bring in your food items. 

Support Wines at Schuler Books This Month! 

In honor of Reading Month, Wines PTO will be partnering with Schuler Books.  From Sunday, March 19 - Saturday, March 25, 20% of your purchase will be donated to Wines. The 20% donation applies to books, games, toys, art supplies, puzzles, candy, stuffed animals and more!  Just mention "Wines" at checkout, or use web code WINESPTO when checking out online (https://www.schulerbooks.com). Tell your friends and family from out of town, too!  

Wines Auction: Looking for Sponsors and Art Project Volunteers

Classroom Project Volunteers Needed!

This year’s Wines Auction is on April 14th and for this event each classroom will create a unique art project that will be live auctioned off that night. This is a fun way to get the kids involved with raising money for the PTO and has produced some amazing pieces of art over the years.  We are looking for a few parent volunteers from each classroom to help plan and create projects. No art experience is needed.  We are still in need of volunteers from the following classrooms: Toohey, Shanteau, Lynch, Milanowski, Mosher, Heaton, and Spiroff.

Anyone interested please email Lauren Cunnane at lmbrooks27@gmail.com

Corporate Sponsors/Item Donations/Monetary Donation

Another opportunity to support the Auction is to be a corporate sponsor or donate items for the silent auction, or make a monetary donation to the event. HERE is a link to the Auction donation site on the PTO website. 

Other Information About the Auction

The auction will be held Friday, April 14th from 6-10PM at HOMES Campus. Join us for this casual, ADULT ONLY celebration in support of our school. This year we are focusing on raising money for outdoor improvements including new soccer goals for the Upper El playground and playground equipment for the Lower El. Want to help? Have a donation? Contact Jane.lardo@gmail.com

Wines ROAR, May 19

The end of the school year may still seem far away, but planning for this year's ROAR has begun! For families who are new to Wines, the Roar is the end of the school year party with carnival games, prizes, food trucks, a huge raffle, a flush tank for the 5th graders, a dunk tank with Dr. DeYoung and more! This year's Roar will be Friday May 19th from 5-8pm. If you'd like to join the planning committee for this year's event, please contact Lizzy Hurwitz (lizzy@lizzyhurwitz.com)

AAPS PTOC Equity Fundraiser

The AAPS PTOC Equity Committee is working hard to support schools that do not have the type of support and resources that we have at Wines. They have launched its first ever equity fundraiser on GoFundMe - the $20 for $30k campaign!  

The PTOC is looking for 1500 members of the Ann Arbor community to donate $20 each. Their goal is to raise $32,500 to boost the incomes of PTOs at Title I elementary schools by $10 per student.  As of today, they have already raised over $17,000!! 

The PTO Thrift Shop, in honor of its 30th anniversary, has decided to MATCH the funds raised up to $30,000.  

That’s all for this week.

David