Mahalo Cascade Ridge community! Our Wiki Wiki Walkathon was a fantastic success, and it wouldn’t have been so without all the hard work of our AMAZING team who brought an entirely new theme and ideas to fruition, all within the first month of the school year. Because of the generosity and dedication of our families, students, staff, sponsors, and volunteers, we met our $53,000 fundraising goal! With the financial success of our primary fundraiser, we can now implement the planned funding for this year. Congratulations and thank you to everyone who was involved!
As communicated during the last month, nearly 95% of all our expenses are spent on programs, grants, and awards that directly benefit our children. Our primary expenditures are as follows:
•Staff Grants – ~$17K
•Instructional Support – ~$13K
•Art & Science Enrichment Fund – ~$9K
•Art & Science Docents & Science Fair - ~$7K
•Other Educational & Safety Support programs including: Eager Reader, Destination Imagination, Reflections, Math Club, Safety Patrol & Geography Bees – ~$7K
•Community Events & Programs including: Caring Through Sharing, Parent Play Day, Great Kids, Birthday Celebrations for the students, Festival of Cultures, Talent Show, Fifth Grade End-of-Year Celebrations and activities, Parent & Child Education, Staff Appreciation – ~$7K
•K – 5 Drama – ~$5K
Our Wiki Wiki Walkathon week began on Monday, September 29th with PJ day at school. Students and staff continued to dress up in different themes each day and on Wednesday our lunchtime announcements and Hawaiian themed trivia took the excitement to a new level! On Friday, October 3rd, the school was a sea of teal and yellow as the entire CRE building sported their Wiki Wiki t-shirts. At 4pm, when students arrived back at school with their families, our DJ was spinning tunes to set a festive mood as the kids began completing laps around the school and snacking on treats! A visit from the Mariners moose provided extra incentive for the students to complete laps as they chased him around the course. Soon after the event began, the field games outside the school opened, silent auction items went up for bid and airbrush tattoos and balloon creations were a hit! Students were found concentrating and making their best guess at the candy guessing jars, others were dancing, and many enjoyed posing with their friends at the photo booth. The festivities continued with some outdoor inflatable fun and a live hula show and demonstration.
Parents, students and staff enjoyed homemade cookies, cupcakes, brownies, caramel apples and specialty beverages at the outdoor concession stands. Cascade Ridge Bakers provide the best for our concession stands time and time again. Almost $2,000 of treats and beverages were sold by our weary concessions volunteers.
The Silent Auction in the Coyote Café raised over $11,000! Many of the items and experiences were donated by Cascade Ridge’s generous families and community members. The silent auction tables were abuzz with parents pondering their bids. And no Walkathon event would be complete without feeding the hungry participants. For the first time this year, we had food trucks onsite selling gourmet bites for dinner. Based on the feedback we’ve heard so far, the food trucks were a hit with the community.
As the sun set on our island themed event and families headed home (many with kids on sugar highs), we applauded the efforts of our many volunteers and gave a huge MAHALO to the entire Cascade Ridge community!
The success of the PTSA Walkathon event is made possible, each year, by the countless volunteer hours carried out by a hard working crew.
A BIG thank you to Ann Brooks, Helen DiMeco and Kelly Huber for their countless hours making sure the Walkathon was a huge success. They could not have done it without an amazing group to back them up:
Michele Brady – Webmaster and Silent Auction
Blythe Mercer – Food Trucks
Angi Warner and Erica Dunn – Spirit Week
Jason Warner – DJ and Emcee
Tobi Roni - Walking Course
Khristie Tobler - T-shirts
Shannon Romanski - Outdoor Concessions
Krystal McCandlish - Pledge Management and Donor Wall
Michelle Lyman and Peggy Llort - Decorations
Erinn Chapman - Volunteers
Carol Schweitzer and Cassie Baker - Procurement
Mahalo Principal Fowler for your support and enthusiasm throughout the entire week of Walkathon!
Mahalo to our wonderful Teachers and Staff for your enthusiasm and involvement and for joining us for the Walkathon festivities.
Mahalo to the Volunteers who were part of the Walkathon! This was truly a community event and not possible without the generous gift of your time and effort. The day of the event many of you worked on Set up, Clean up, First Aid, Concessions, Lap Stampers, Photographers, Field Games, Inflatables, Passive Fundraising, Silent Auction, donations of canopies and tables and helpers with everything in between! Mahalo!
Mahalo to our Community Supporters: Holland America Line – Tingey Orthodontics - Sports Clips – Nystrom and Associates – Bel Viso Spa – Issaquah Soccer Club – Washington Awards - Cathy Santiago/ Windermere – Walters & Wolf –– Benchmark Motoring – Lake Sammamish Family Dentistry – Sammamish Little League – Learning RX – Grounded Landscape Design – Barre3 – Northwest Landscape Services – Storage Court – and many more who donated to our Silent Auction!
Last but certainly NOT least, thank you to all Cascade Ridge families who donated to such a worthy cause. We hope you had fun on our little island getaway!
