McGilvra runs for the roses — toward success
After months of hard work, coordination and volunteerism, the 2016 McGilvra auction culminated with a fun, inspiring evening full of high-impact donations to McGilvra Elementary School (1617 38th Ave. E.). This biannual event raises essential funds for academic specialists, teacher training programs, technology and staff support.
The PTA would like to thank our fabulous sponsors, including Plaster Group (Shawn Plaster), Wilcynski Partners (Larry Wilcynski), Vito’s (Jeff Scott), Pacific NW Fertility (Lora Shahine), aPodment (Dirk Mulhair), Kalles Group (Derek Kalles) and Coldwell Banker Bain (Michelle Van Tassell).
A number of companies and individuals also donated their time, resources and services to the event, including Carol Hoffman of Hoffman Design Group, Risa Blythe of Girlie Press, John Platt of St. Cloud’s (catering delicious food) and Kip Toner Benefit Auctions.
This was a huge effort that couldn’t have been possible without the countless McGilvra parent volunteers and staff who donated their time, ideas, resources and endless energy to make this auction a success! A special to thank you to all in the Madison Park and Madison Valley communities who donated an item, experience or time to our event.
Raising plants, funds
In other news, the school garden is back in full swing, and students had a blast, helping shovel, dump and rake a huge pile of cedar chips onto the garden paths. Many thanks to the parent volunteers who helped make these work parties a success. The warm sunshine has allowed us to have garden recesses and get the garden ready for the new planting season.
McGilvra Elementary School once again partnered with the Madison Valley merchants and community council to sponsor the Madison Valley Spring Clean on April 30. The crew went out in full force in McGilvra Wildcat gear and focused on the triangle next to Luc, clearing out the old, overgrown plants, in addition to the usual cleaning, trash pickup and sticker removal.
McGilvra Elementary School’s inaugural year of its Wildcat Pantry was a huge success. The program provides food backpacks to our families in need during school breaks when their access to free and reduced lunch programs is interrupted. In addition to providing food for the Thanksgiving, winter and mid-winter and spring breaks, we were also able to support the larger Seattle Public Schools community with excess donations of about 40 bags of food over the course of the year.
The Student Council is raising awareness among our students about the global need for clean water with a simulated Walk for Water on Friday, May 6. Students will walk with full water jugs in spirit with others around the globe who don’t have ready access to clean tap water.
The first-ever Glassybaby glass-blowing event benefitting McGilvra was a wonderful success! Glassybaby and the McGilvra PTA partnered to bring a unique and fun community-building event exclusively for our school. We had 36 people attend to create their own one-of-a-kind glass items alongside skilled Glassybaby artisans. Together, we raised more than $1,000 for the McGilvra PTA, all while enjoying a fun and delicious evening.
A very big thank you to Glassybaby’s Madrona store staff and all our amazing McGilvra participants — we are looking to make this an annual event!
The Kids’ Time student program is having a great year. Thanks to a new partnership with Seattle Parks and Recreation, these before- and after-school classes offer students the opportunity to experience everything from hip-hop to cooking and STEM robotics.
Taking place before and after school as enrichment activities, the programming has seen a 25-percent increase in student participation from last year. New classes for 2016 include volleyball and art.
Special visits
McGilvra welcomed our new School Board representative, Jill Geary, with “candygrams” in late April. She is scheduled for a January visit to the school (date to be confirmed).
We look forward to partnering with her for improved education and safety funding with the School Board and Seattle Public Schools.
For more information and late-breaking updates from the McGilvra Elementary PTA, visit our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/McGilvraElementaryPTA.
SIAN WU is a McGilvra Elementary School parent.