Holiday Baskets - Helping Our Own

A special message from:

The Holiday Basket Committee ~ Diane and Katherine O’Rourke

Stevenson’s PTA has proudly participated in assembling Holiday Baskets for Burbank families in need. This year, Stevenson has specifically asked the Burbank Coordinating Council the families we adopt to receive Holiday Baskets be chosen from Stevenson. We felt it was important to reach out to our own Stevenson families in these trying times of economic hardships. We also felt that knowing the donations we are asking for were going to our very own students and their families would be very fulfilling and rewarding to all of us at Stevenson.

The Holiday Basket Coordinator from the Burbank Coordinating Council made it very clear we would not be given the names of the families we have adopted. No one at Stevenson will know the identities of the adopted families. There will be a preset drop off point and pick up time and place off campus. The Stevenson families chosen won't even know they are the recipients of Holiday Basket created by Stevenson until the day of the pick up.

The goal of the Holiday Basket program is to provide holiday meals for one full day, breakfast, lunch and dinner, and gifts for each member of the adopted families. Through a food drive and Giving Tree we hope to collect all the necessary items to create each family a Stevenson Holiday Basket unique to that family’s needs.

Food Drive: We ask that you start sending in your non-perishable food donations with your children on Monday, November 23rd. Volunteers will collect donations each day from classrooms until Friday, December 4th. Suggestions for food items are soups, tuna, can vegetables and fruits, dry cereals, pancake mix, pastas, crackers and peanut butter. Additional items needed are paper goods, and toiletries.

Giving Tree: There will be a poster of a Giving Tree set up at Stevenson. The tree will have paper leaves with the gender, age, and clothing sizes written on each leaf for the 25 adopted family members. The Giving Tree will also be on display during the Holiday Boutique from November 30 to December 3rd. We ask that you drop by and a pick a leaf of your choice. Please return your Holiday Basket donations by December 11th.

Additional information is available on our school website http://stevensonpirates.net/home/current-needs/holiday-baskets/ , classroom blogs and flyers will be sent home with your children. If you would like to get involved with the Holiday Baskets, please contact us at abugnut@aol.com or call 818-522-7218. If you have any connections to clothes, grocery or toy store freebies by all means give us a call.


The Holiday Basket Committee
Diane and Katherine O’Rourke

Holiday Boutique

Hello Room 3 Parents!

The holiday's are fast approaching and FFS is having a HOLIDAY BOUTIQUE! Parents have been working diligently on making some fun gifts for our children to purchase for their parents, grandparents and friends. The boutique will be open Monday, November 30 thru Thursday, December 3 from 2:30 - 4:30.

A note will be sent home with your child for you to write down who they could purchase gifts for. The gifts range from $1 - $5. There will be some baked goods and a little something to drink while you wait outside of the boutique so your child can shop on their own (with the help of volunteers of course). This is a fun time to socialize with other parents and the baked goods will be fresh and tasty!

I encourage you to stop in early in the week so your child gets the best pick of the crop!

Thank you all for your support and it's been a fun half thus far.

Feel free to email with any questions you have.

Sandi

PTA/FFS & The Green Team

Hello everyone!

I wanted to remind you that there is a PTA & FFS meeting this Thursday, November 12, at 7:00PM. The meeting will take place in the Parent Resource Center, which is in Bungalow A. Child care will be provided.

Also, the Green Team will have their 1st official meeting at 6:00 PM that same night, same location. The topic will be current projects and goals for the year – the garden project, recycling and composting. They are also looking for input from parents as to what you think the Green Team could become here at Stevenson.

What is The Green Team? It’s a simple idea and the time seemed right this year to bring a new sense of awareness and participation in our school’s gardens, recycling and overall sustainability. So far, we have given the school’s Old Garden some new life – over the last two weeks the kids from almost all the classrooms have jumped in, gotten their hands wonderfully dirty and planted seeds and seedlings! With a little luck, in a month or so we’ll have some fresh veggies to eat.

Please join us for both meetings if you can.

Thanks!

Neighbors Helping Neighbors

November will be BTAC Food Drive Month in Burbank's Elementary Schools and Stevenson is committed to helping BTAC fill their shelves to help the needy this holiday season. The food drive will run from November 2nd through November 25th.

Burbank Temporary Aid Center has been helping the working poor, homeless and families in need in Burbank for 35 years. This year the need is greater than it has ever been. Thanks to the generous support of our community, BTAC offers a food pantry for groceries and personal hygiene items, daily sack lunches for the homeless, shower and laundry facilities and many other forms of assistance for those who call Burbank home.

The BTAC Pantry is desperately in need of canned and packaged food as well as personal hygiene products.

If you would like to help by donating, your child can bring the item(s) to the classroom. BTAC will come to the school to pick up the donated items throughout the month.

Below is an example of some of the most needed items:

Macaroni and Cheese * Peanut Butter * Cereals * Rice * Pasta * Instant Potatoes * Pancake Mixes * Syrup * Canned Soup * Canned Fruits and Vegetables * Canned Meat (Chicken, Tuna, etc) * Toothbrushes * Toothpaste * Deodorant

With everyone's help, we can make a difference in the lives of others in our community.

If you have any questions about the food drive, please contact Barbara Howell, Executive Director BTAC, at (818) 848-2822.

Thank you!