Annual Fun Run Raises Cash For OES

ORLEANS – With mother and father and members of the family trying on with indicators and pompoms, college students at Orleans Elementary School headed outside final Friday for a run.

 The faculty’s second annual Fun Run introduced college students, academics, workers and fogeys out to look at youngsters stretch their legs and run across the faculty’s athletic area for a very good trigger. The occasion, sponsored by the OES dad or mum trainer committee, is the varsity’s prime fundraiser, with all proceeds going to assist numerous faculty initiatives.

 OES Principal Elaine Pender smiled as college students whizzed by her in all instructions.

 “They’re all excited,” she stated. “They get T-shirts, they get to run with their friends, their parents are here. It’s a celebration of the best kind.”

 Ashley Ruggieri, a member of the PTC, stated that about $13,000 had been raised as of the Oct. 17 occasion. Last yr’s inaugural occasion raised about $16,000, she stated.

 The PTC largely makes use of the funding to cowl the price of area journeys for all college students in kindergarten via fifth grade. The cash can also be used to pay for particular company and different in-school occasions, Ruggieri stated.

 “It adds up, and it’s not part of the school budget,” she stated. “We do a lot of teacher appreciation and lunches and stuff.”

 Elementary faculty households raised cash for this yr’s occasion via the web fundraising platform Boosterthon, Ruggieri stated.

 “People just go online and they donate,” she stated. “The parents send out emails and text blasts saying ‘My kid’s doing this.’”

 Students, in addition to some academics and workers, ran for about half an hour earlier than returning inside. Pender stated that whereas the run is enjoyable for college kids, it’s also helpful for them in different methods.

 “We know that activity helps with the brain productivity, so we do try to find ways for kids to be active,” she stated.