CARES Meets Community at Oktoberfest

CARES members offered crafts for kids and membership information for the community during this year's Depot District Oktoberfest. This was a great opportunity for teens and adults to talk about the many educational challenges our town is facing while young children made puppets and spelled words with magnetic letters. We thank those that took the time to stop by and join the conversation and especially the many who decided to become members of our organization! Together We Can Make a Difference.

Race to Nowhere

There is an opportunity to view a new documentary being screened at the Lake Theatre in Oak Park on Saturday, October 2 at 10 a.m. It's called Race to Nowhere and it highlights the intense pressures that American kids are facing today. Tickets are $8 at the box office. The film is sure to inspire and open up a dialogue about education between those who watch it.


Click here to watch the trailer.

New Morton Website

I was thrilled to visit the new Morton High School Website and hopeful that the school will build on this important step toward improving communication with our community! This is a promising sign of improvement! Check it out.

http://www.morton201.org/

It would be helpful and exciting if the district extends this to individual websites for each unique school.

Teachers, It's That Time of Year Again!

Dear Berwyn Teachers and Administrators:

BerwynCARES (www.berwyncares.org) is happy to present a “2010 Berwyn Challenge” to help fund classroom projects in Berwyn schools through DonorsChoose.org. DonorsChoose uses the internet to connect individuals who want to support education DIRECTLY with classrooms in need. Indeed, the website is frequented by donors with as little as $1 to give AND donors with deep pockets looking for a place to make a difference. The website is easy to use, and accessible by the general public.

How can you use DonorsChoose.org to help promote your classrooms?

Berwyn schools are underfunded compared to the public schools in surrounding communities.

However, BerwynCARES has found that the residents generally support the teachers and would like to contribute. There truly is an enthusiasm and passion for education in our community!

DonorsChoose.org allows individuals, organizations, and businesses to choose which projects to fund and what amount (small or large) to give. The past Berwyn CARES Challenges have brought tens of thousands of dollars to Berwyn classrooms through our own fundraising efforts and promotion of The Berwyn Challenge outside our membership.

2010 Berwyn Challenge

BerwynCARES has created the 2010 Berwyn Challenge including all of the current proposals by Berwyn school teachers. This will help rally our membership to focus on our Berwyn teachers and classrooms and to hopefully direct funds to those projects. But why stop there? You can spread the word to the families of your students and to your PTAs that they can make a difference by donating as little as $10 to their own child's classroom or project!

Next Steps:
(1) Submit a proposal. Go to http://www.DonorsChoose.org
(2) Let us know you've submitted a proposal. Please e-mail info@berwyncares.org alerting us that your proposal has been submitted to donorschoose.org! We will then add it to the Berwyn Blogger Challenge.
(3) Click this link to The 2010 Berwyn Blogger Challenge and join us in widely promoting the Berwyn Blogger Challenge. Perhaps there are grandparents in other states looking to fund the project in their grandchild’s class. Include the information in PTA newsletters. Suggest that the businesses that support your school consider donating directly to classroom proposals. We can all promote the 2010 Berwyn Challenge to our memberships, the media, and beyond.

We sincerely hope this will help supplement your classroom needs and bring resources to your classrooms and to our Berwyn students.

Best,

Susan Crowe,
BerwynCARES Board Member