Dear JPDS-NC Parents,
Welcome to the 2011-2012 school year at JPDS-NC!
We are looking forward to another exciting year of learning, community and school ru'ach (spirit) at JPDS-NC. Primary Parents is responsible for many important JPDS-NC programs including teacher appreciation events, challah and flower deliveries; community-building events; room parents; pizza, box and birthday lunches; birthday books; all the fabulous JPDS-NC clothing your children wear; various fundraisers and sales throughout the year, and so much more.
Did you know that Primary Parents…
…is self-supporting through dues, donations and minimal fundraising?
…provides the challah your children enjoy at school Shabbat activities each Friday?
…honors our teachers and staff throughout the year with lunches, treats and gift cards?
…is online?
It’s all true!
We are also pleased to provide our first ever Guide to Volunteering with Primary Parents. This guide contains brief descriptions of our programs and volunteer opportunities associated with each.
The success of all of the programs, on which many of us rely, depends in large part upon the participation of our community. See the “availability” note under each program to see what jobs match with the time you have available. You will see that most tasks can be done at your convenience. We want everyone to feel connected to our community, and volunteering is a terrific way to do that. Feel free to contact us or any program chair for more information. We hope you will volunteer as much as you can to make the 2011-2012 school year the most it can be -- for our students, staff, faculty and parents!
A few activities to watch for early in the year include our traditional first day Tea and Tissues for new families, the annual Fannie Mae Walk for the Homeless, and the crowd-pleasing JPDS-NC Coffeehouse/Talent Night. We look forward to meeting you and helping involve as many of you as possible in our wonderful community.
Warmly,
The Primary Parents Co-Chairs
Programs
Primary Parents runs a variety of programs from community-building social events, to fundraisers, to the school's lunch program. Following is a brief description of each along with volunteer opportunities.
Teacher Appreciation
Chair: Esther Goldenberg & Rebecca Weisman
To acknowledge JPDS-NC's teachers, Primary Parents provides many treats, lunches and other gifts throughout the year. The majority of dues collected go toward this effort as we continue to look for new and creative ways to give back to those who give so much to our children.
Volunteers needed to: Assemble teacher gifts and treats, order lunches, purchase and deliver birthday and gift cards.
Availability: All except lunch set up and delivery of gifts can be done from home at volunteer's convenience. Time commitment varies but usually is no more than 1-2 hours per event.
First Day Activities (Welcome Students/Tea and Tissues)
Help us welcome new students and parents to JPDS-NC. Help ease the adjustment for the new families by giving them a place to relax with veteran JPDS-NC parents after drop-off on the first day.
Volunteers needed to: Mingle in the multi-purpose room with parents of new or younger students and, when necessary, check on their children. Help with the logistics of the event.
Availability: 1-3 hours on the first day of school.
Food Program (Birthday Lunch, Wednesday Classroom Pizza, and Box Lunches)
Chairs: Pat Levy-Zuckerman and Cinthia Rozanski
One Wednesday each month, every student eats lunch in the Gottesman Auditorium and has an opportunity to meet other students and celebrate birthdays (this service is included in your dues). On the other Wednesdays, pizza is available by order for children to enjoy in their classrooms. Box Lunches will be available two days a week.
This is our biggest program and requires many people to make it happen.
Volunteers needed to:
Maintain database(s) of orders for all different lunches
Place orders for food
Check inventory
Order supplies
Recruit volunteers
Set up and serve at birthday lunch or receive/deliver lunches on other days
Availability: Except for inventorying supplies and volunteering at birthday lunch, all tasks associated with the food program can be done from home at the volunteer's convenience. Birthday lunch is a 90-minute commitment, and lunch delivery is a commitment of an hour or less. You can volunteer as many or as few days as you would like throughout the year.
Birthday Books
Chair: Liz Goldel
This program offers a wonderful way to tie celebrations to giving, to recognize a child on his or her special day, and to enhance classroom libraries, all at the same time.
Volunteers needed to:
Obtain student roster with class and birthday information
Obtain wish lists from teachers
Order or purchasing books
Create labels and applying to each book
Divide books for distribution and delivering to school
Availability: All except delivery of books can be done at volunteer's convenience.
JPDS-NC Merchandise
Chair: Marina Fradlin & Micah Salb
JPDS-NC blue t-shirts for field trips, white polo shirts for Shabbat, sweatshirts for winter, tote bags, hats, mugs, pens and pencils, and so much more are for sale at school events throughout the year.
Volunteers needed to:
Order and managing merchandise.
Store and inventory merchandise.
Sell at all-school events
Availability: During school events (some are during school hours). Organizing and inventorying can be done at volunteers convenience when building is open.
"Random Acts of Kindness" Social Action Committee
Chair: Joanne Kenen
Giving tzedakah (righteous giving) and performing other acts of chesed (loving-kindness) are an integral part of the JPDS-NC curriculum and our mission of growing children who are knowledgeable, responsible Jews and citizens, deeply committed to the community at large. Social action events at JPDS-NC provide parents and children with the opportunity to weave these values into their lives.
Volunteers needed to:
Coordinate and planning various events consistent with the school's mission
Publicize and secure necessary volunteers for all events
Availability: Most planning, publicizing, etc. can be done at volunteer's convenience. Some events occur during school hours, others are after or on the weekends.
Coffeehouse/Parent-Teacher Talent Show
Chair: Open (contact Tamar Nicolson for further information.)
This fabulous, community-building event has become an instant, annual favorite with wide participation. We are planning more, similar community-building events throughout the year.
Volutneers needed to:
Order/arrange for food and space.
Set up and clean up of tables for food and other displays
Set up tables and table decorations for eating/watching the performances
Organize the performers
Availability: Before, during and after the Sunday evening of the event.
Eat & Earn Programs
Chair: Bonnies Roskes
JPDS-NC families and friends earn money for Primary Parents while shopping at their favorite grocery stores which then give a percentage of the total purchase to JPDS-NC.
Volunteers needed to:
Contact stores/restaurants to ask how to set up a program with them
Complete paperwork required for JPDS-NC to join and receive benefits
Publicize details on participation to the JPDS-NC community
Track totals earned and reporting to the chair
Encourage parents to sign up for the program
Availability: Most tasks can be done at volunteer's convenience. (2-3 hours in summer or fall to set up program, 1 hour or less per month thereafter.)
Room Parents
Chair: Open (contact Tamar Nicolson for further information.)
This program offers a great way to get to know your child's teacher as well as the other parents in the class. Room Parents act as the liaison between the school and the parents. It is truly an honor to represent your child's class in this way.
Volunteers needed to:
Organize class social
Coordinate assistance to classroom teachers when needed
When necessary, make phone calls or send e-mails in to notify of important school news, remind of upcoming events or help secure volunteers
Coordinate meals for families in need in their class
Availability: No activities need to be done at school or during school hours; nearly all tasks (1-2 hours/month) can be accomplished at volunteer's convenience.
Original Art
Chair: Pam Wexler
Primary Parents will again this year partner with ORIGINAL WORKS to have student artwork reproduced onto a variety of useful, quality products. ORDERS will be DUE Wednesday NOVEMBER 9, and families will RECEIVE FINISHED PRODUCTS on DECEMBER 8, in plenty of time to wrap and/or mail for the first night of Chanukah! To see the variety of products offered, visit the ORIGINAL WORKS website at www.originalworks.com.
We hope you will use this new program for your Hanukah shopping, and appreciate the opportunity to share your child's creativity with friends and family! This is also a way to preserve and share the creativity that flows through the halls of our school.
Each student has created or will (by October 25th) create a drawing, and each of those drawings needs to be tagged and placed into a bag along with an order form, and then those bags need to go back to their classrooms and distributed so they can take them home to their parents.
Volunteers needed to:
Organize the artwork and order forms (the week of October 26th, 2-3 people for 4 hours)
Organize the orders before the art is shipped back to the company (the week of November 9th, 2-3 people for 6 hours)\
Unpack product and distribute to the classrooms (the week of December 8th, 4 people for 4 hours)
Pajama and Movie Night
Chair: Lorien Abroms
Get your PJs on and snuggle up in the Gottesman Auditorium for a family night of dinner and a movie.
Volunteers needed to:
Organize logisitics for the event
Advertise for the event
Order and sell food
Availability: The sunday of the event. All other tasks can be done at volunteer's convenience.
Bingo Night
Chair: Erika Dickstein
Spend a family Sunday at JPDS-NC, playing america's favorite game...BINGO!
Volunteers needed to:
Organize logisitics for the event
Advertise for the event
Order and sell food
Availability: The sunday of the event. All other tasks can be done at volunteer's convenience.
Carnival
Chair: Rachel Decter Hyman and Amy Kritz
Challah and Flowers
Chair: Inna Lerner & Susan Schatten
Deliver challah and flowers Friday mornings.
Volunteers needed to:
Assist in delivery
Availability: Friday mornings, 8:30 AM - 10:00 AM |
