Auburn School District No. 408
915 4th Street Northeast, Auburn, WA  98002

12/8/05

NEWS RELEASE
Auburn Schools Participate in Holiday Giving

Auburn schools will be having holiday giving activities to help local families. Some of the activities include:

• Alpac Elementary School matches needy families with two local churches, an ARHS club, and the City of Pacific who provide presents for the children and a holiday meal. Three teachers are sponsoring a family for Christmas.
• Chinook Elementary School will have a holiday giving tree where staff and community members can purchase gifts for an individual student or an entire family.
• Dick Scobee Elementary School has a dozen or more families that request help for Thanksgiving and Christmas. The school matches the requests with local families, organizations, and churches so they have a holiday meal and presents for the children. This year, Dr. Matson's dental office, Lifegate Foursquare Church, Marshals, Remax Real Estate, the school PTA, and staff are among those that are helping out. There will be a giving tree that staff can participate in to help meet the needs of one of the families.
• Evergreen Heights Elementary School has a giving tree for needy families.
• Gildo Rey Elementary School has stockings for needy children.
• Hazelwood Elementary School has a giving tree for needy Hazelwood families and provides holiday food baskets for the families.
• Ilalko Elementary’s PTA will have a giving tree for five adopted families. Ilalko is also participating in the Starlight Toys for Kids through Starbucks.
• Lake View Elementary School has a giving tree so staff and community members can purchase gifts for needy children in the area. Lake View is also collecting clothes and toys for families in the school community to be distributed before winter vacation.
• Lea Hill Elementary School has a holiday giving tree supporting 10 families in its community. Also, the school is having a meal drive to provide a holiday meal to each of these ten families with either food or monetary donations.
• Pioneer Elementary School students are working in partnership with the Fred Meyer’s Starbucks to collect toys for seriously ill children. The Starlight Starbright Foundation is sponsoring the drive, but Starbucks is rewarding each classroom that participates with a cocoa and cookie party. The Pioneer PTA is conducting a coin drive in each classroom with contributions going to the Auburn Food Bank. Grace Community Church is holding the third annual Christmas Giving Tree for the students and families of Pioneer Elementary. Fifty-five needy families will be receiving gifts for each family member. In addition, each family will receive a gift certificate for food and other necessities. In all, 700 gift tags were placed on the Christmas Giving Tree. Members of the Grace congregation selected all gift requests.
• Terminal Park Elementary School has an Adopt-A-Family program for the third year in which new, unwrapped gifts are brought in and matched with needy families. Also, the school’s PTA is donating $500 towards holiday baskets for families.
• Washington Elementary School is gathering Holiday Food Baskets. Each classroom is adopting local families for the holidays. Before winter vacation, each family will receive a food basket filled with everything they will need for a holiday meal. Top Foods is donating the turkeys. Classroom collection of specific meal items will take place December 1 through December 16.
• At Cascade Middle School, each grade level is adopting two families to support. Sixth grade is purchasing items for two of their families--both students and staff will help with this. Builder's Club spent last week at the retirement home where students delivered their hand-made cards and sang Christmas Carols to the residents. The week of December 5-9, the Builder’s Club will have its Christmas party and students will bring in items for an agency that puts together stockings for homeless kids. The club just finished its Humane Society pet food drive and earned over $200 for the pet food bank and took in over 300 pounds of food. This pet food bank supplies pet food to senior citizens and homeless citizens who want to keep their pets and enrich their lives. The club members also will work at the food bank again this month and are gearing up for the big Auburn Food Bank drive next month! As a yearly tradition, Cascade choirs make special visits to people in the community. On December 8, the 7th grade choir will perform at the Auburn Senior Citizen Center and the week of December 12-16, the 6th grade choir will sing at Top Food and Drug. In Cascade’s name, the store will donate $50 to the local Food Bank. Afterwards, the sixth grade students will stop at the Auburn Meadows Assisted Living Home to spread holiday cheer.
• Mt. Baker Middle School families will benefit from two different activities. The Messiah Lutheran Church will provide seven school families with food and gifts. The school staff is helping four other families with holiday support.
• Olympic Middle School’s Builder’s Club’s current project is to raise school-wide awareness of recycling. The service club has received information and materials from the City of Auburn and the members are making posters for each classroom and the office areas to increase recycling efforts. The City provided the service club with information for holiday waste prevention and alternative gift-giving ideas as well.
• Rainier Middle School’s Kiwanis-sponsored Builder's Club is collecting hats and mittens for children.
• Auburn High School’s leadership class is having a Teddy Bear drive for the DAWN organization.
• At Auburn Mountainview High School, the fabric design class will visit an adult family home. Each student will make and take a batik ornament and card for the residents. The students are meeting the residents, making each one a holiday card, bringing treats, and singing holiday songs in English and Ukrainian. The Horticulture Club is selling wreaths with a yet-to-be determined amount going to the local food bank. The business classes have taken five nametags from the Giving Tree at Lea Hill to adopt for the holidays.
• At Auburn Riverside High, many activities are happening for the month of December. FCCLA is organizing Adopt a Family program again this year. Groups participating include DECA, leadership, classrooms, forensics, and Honor Society. Another project around the school is a winter warmth drive--collecting blankets, coats, mittens, and hats for local organizations helping those without a home. Another group will visit a local senior home to provide treats, music, and activities this month.
• West Auburn High School staff will give a Surprise Santa set of gifts to needy students. Also, staff will bake cookies for all students to be served in home rooms and commons area.

For more information, contact Superintendent Linda Cowan at (253) 931-4914.