FSUS PTSA

Valentine’s Day came early to FSUS PTSA.

A huge thank you goes out to all of you who donated clothes, household items and electronics for our Goodwill Donation Drive. We were able to secure $1,000 in vouchers for students and families in need. The FSUS community has a very giving heart! Special thanks to Michelle Carruthers for coordinating this event and for standing outside in subfreezing weather to collect everyone’s donations.

PTSA is focused this month on finding our next group of leaders to help guide our organization through the 2010-2011 school year. If you’ve been wondering how you can get more involved in our school and make a positive difference in the lives of our students, teachers and families this is it! Our Nominating Committee is tasked with finding a candidate for each of our elected positions: President, 1st Vice President - Fundraising, 2nd Vice President - Membership, 3rd Vice President - Programs, Recording Secretary, Corresponding Secretary and Treasurer.

 I can tell you that I have found the past two years very rewarding because I’ve had the pleasure of working with a strong team of people - officers, committee chairs and volunteers. These are people with families and jobs and community commitments who found time to give back to our school. If enough people step forward to help then no one person is overwhelmed. Having a strong PTSA sends a message to our kids that their education is important - to themselves, to their families and to our school community.

Elections will be held at our April General Assembly meeting, which is scheduled for April 20, 2010 at 6:30pm in the Cafeteria. If you are interested in any of these positions or would like to learn more about them please contact a member of our Nominating Committee or send me an email and I’ll pass it along. Your Nominating Committee is:

· Precious Boatwright, precious.boatwright@MyFWC.com  

· Katie Broome, kev05@fsu.edu  

· Kristina Birard, kbirard@fsu.edu  

Please also be on the lookout this month for more information about the FSUS Relay for Life. We will need participants as well as volunteers to make this event a success. There will be a brochure and a website soon. In the meantime you can get more information from Megan Brink at mbrink@fsu.edu or Danielle in the Front Office.

Sincerely,

Kasey Chapin

Health & Safety Committee

GARDEN CLUB - The FALL Garden Club members just completed Phase 2 harvest last week! In October the garden was prepared and the kids planted a variety or winter, root vegetables to grow through the cold season. We also planted some lettuces which were harvested before the winter break. At the first harvest, the kids also picked radishes and onions and we prepared salads which they tested and proudly ate. It was enriching to see the kids discover that their hard work paid off in a delicious and healthy treat. In the second harvest, we picked more ripe vegetables and herbs that we donated to The Shelter Kitchen, a local homeless shelter in downtown Tallahassee that serves dinner to the homeless community seven nights a week. This is our contribution to our local metro community.

There will be one more harvest in a couple weeks when our cabbages are ripe. Each child will be able to take home a green or red cabbage that their family can prepare together. A recipe list will accompany their harvest so the family can work together to make a delicious side or main dish. Our hope is the kids will partake in this recipe because they actually planted and cared for it.

We will be opening registration for the Spring Garden Club in the coming month. The Spring Garden club will produce another bounty of vegetables that our kids can test. However, our intent is to start a new tradition in that on the Friday of each harvest week the Garden Club members will be gathering vegetables for our own needful student families to distribute through our new FSUS Food Pantry. We will work in conjunction with the Student Outreach committee to see that our families can be offered these fresh vegetables along with the available staple items. This is our contribution to our own school community.