KINGSTON — Among other achievements, last year’s Gordon Elementary spring auction put a roof over students’ heads… an outdoor roof, that is.
The auction raised about $30,000, and the fall fund-raiser, which was completed just a few weeks ago, raised about $10,000.
Students are already seeing the results, especially since an outdoor classroom was built behind the school.
The center, which has several benches and a permanent red metal roof, has already been used by several classes.
“The kids have inspiration for whatever they’re doing, whether it be writing or art,” said PTA president Nancy Everard. “It’s more inspirational to have this wonderful view rather than the four walls of a classroom. The kids like anything that gets them outside.”
The outdoor classroom was this year’s “funded” item at the Gordon auction, which means that parents or community members can say they want their money to go to the particular project; other funds go into the PTA’s general fund.
While the outdoor classroom is the auction’s most visible success, there have been others. Two thousand dollars went to the library’s Accelerated Reader program, which helps students identify and improve their reading skills; $1,800 was handed out, $50 to each teacher, as grants to help teachers purchase supplies and materials; and $2,000 went toward general library needs.
There was also $1,300 for the Passport program, which helps kids with geography; a new sign for the entrance to the building; and funds for young authors’ week.
“I was blown away by the auction. It’s a first-class operation … it was amazing to me,” Gordon principal Claudia Peetz remarked.
Peetz said she had heard about the generosity of Gordon parents specifically and the North Kitsap community in general, but was surprised by the dollars that came Gordon’s way during their main fund-raiser.
Everard said that Gordon likes to limit their fund-raisers, putting much of the emphasis on the auction (which raises about three-quarters of the PTA’s general fund) and the fall fund-raiser; that way, she said, parents and community members don’t get burned out by too many requests for money.
She said the auction is crucial.
“It enables us to give when things are asked for,” she said. “And to some extent, it gives us the power to keep things going.”
This year’s auction is planned for April, and its organizers are already planning another funded item: the development of some of the adjacent fields into a soccer/baseball field complex.
