Help Needed
Many hands make light work -- we need your help to keep all the wonderful things that happen at Pillow happening! While we always need volunteers to show up and work, finding volunteers who can lead -- who can organize and manage a small event or a task that occurs
T-Shirt Sales -- year long, but mostly in the Fall. You could do most of this job before and after school, although a couple of the t-shirt selling events happen during the school day.
We only design new t-shirts every other year. The "new shirt" / first year (2012-2013, 2014-2015) is more work (more sales) than the 2nd year. At the beginning of the year we have a big push to make t-shirts available to students by setting up tables at meet the teacher, back to school night, the first 2 Fridays of the year, and occasionally parent/grandparent lunches. (We can send out volunteer requests to help with these sales.) After that, t-shirt requests come in almost every week, and we need someone to get the order requests from the PTA box, check the money, label the t-shirt and put it in the student's teacher's box. At the end of the "even" school year (i.e. end of the 2013-2014 school year) we work with the art program to have students design the new t-shirt.
PTA membership -- this task is mostly in the Fall. You'll need availability for about 30 minutes after school or in the mornings about once a week, in addition to the 2 big events. Create form/brochure (we have previous years). Run a membership table at meet the teacher and back to school night. incentive bulletin board. Process forms as they come in, maintain membership list. Send report in to Texas PTA.
Bring your Dad to School Event -- Fall. The event is one morning, and the rest of the work can be done after school.
This person will manage and run this event. It's big -- usually 300 parents attend -- but over quickly. You would need to handle publicity and the event itself -- get food (or find someone to), keep within budget, inform teachers & staff.
We have a writeup of the work involved, and will send sign-ups to get volunteers to help.
Mom Morning Event -- Spring. The event is one morning, and the rest of the work can be done after school or in the evenings.
("Bring your Mom to School" or something similar)
To follow up our great "Bring your Dad to School Event" we want to host a similar event for moms.
Fall Fundraiser
Chair -- manage the whole process from setting up dates (if the board hasn't already), assembling & distributing packets, making sure student incentives are done, managing order processing and submission,
Student Incentives -- this is a daily job in the morning for 2 weeks (could easily be done before 8:15 AM). Students turn in "tickets" every day saying they've sold items, and we give them doo-dads (ducks, penguins, frogs) to wear on their lanyard. This person would get the tickets from the PTA mailbox, distribute the ducks (in morning assembly would be best, although via teacher mailboxes is OK -- or a mix of the 2). Also keep track of whose been given ducks to make sure we're not giving out more than once.
Helpers -- Package copying & assembly (at home work), Order Processing (2-3 afternoons after orders are turned in), Order Distribution (noon-3:00 on a pre-arranged date, plus follow-ups). Chair will send out a sign up genius for this work
Spirit Night -- McDonald's (Fall) Most work can we done after work hours via email.
Schedule with location, publicize: in newsletter, with stickers home on kids the day-of, via phone message from the office, mascot at morning assembly or at school dismissal. Follow up with location about fundraising check. Work with teachers to get their participation (via Sign Up Genius -- required for McDonald's).
Spirit Night -- Playland Skate (Fall) Most work can we done after work hours via email.
Schedule with location, publicize: in newsletter, with stickers home on kids the day-of, via phone message from the office, mascot at morning assembly or at school dismissal. Follow up with location about fundraising check. Work with teachers to get their participation
Spirit Night -- Chuck E Cheese (Fall) Most work can we done after work hours via email.
Schedule with location, publicize: in newsletter, with stickers home on kids the day-of, via phone message from the office, mascot at morning assembly or at school dismissal. Follow up with location about fundraising check. Work with teachers to get their participation
Spirit Night -- McDonald's (Spring) Most work can we done after work hours via email.
Schedule with location, publicize: in newsletter, with stickers home on kids the day-of, via phone message from the office, mascot at morning assembly or at school dismissal. Follow up with location about fundraising check. Work with teachers to get their participation (via Sign Up Genius -- required for McDonald's).
Spirit Night -- Playland Skate (Spring) Most work can we done after work hours via email.
Schedule with location, publicize: in newsletter, with stickers home on kids the day-of, via phone message from the office, mascot at morning assembly or at school dismissal. Follow up with location about fundraising check. Work with teachers to get their participation
Spirit Night -- Chuck E Cheese (Spring) Most work can we done after work hours via email.
Schedule with location, publicize: in newsletter, with stickers home on kids the day-of, via phone message from the office, mascot at morning assembly or at school dismissal. Follow up with location about fundraising check. Work with teachers to get their participation
Pillow Dance Party -- Spring event. One of our favorite events, and super easy. Can be done after school.
Coordinator -- arrange music, figure out what volunteers we need, decide if/how many glow things we want to sell, manage publicity
Decorations -- lead decorating for the dance with an extremely small budget
Spaghetti Bingo -- Spring. PTA Board will decide if we need this fundraiser. Multiple jobs here, but most can be done in the evenings/weekends
Coordinator -- fill out state paperwork and school district use paperwork, decide which games we are playing (we have last year's plan), find a "caller", manage publicity (newsletter/flyers home/sign)
Food -- we need someone to work with Olive Garden to order/pick up food, supervise volunteers to serve, make sure we have enough drinks, etc.
Prizes -- a team of people to solicit prizes from parents and local businesses
Partners in Education
In an effort to reduce our dependence on fundraisers, we'd like to try to solicit sponsorships from our local business community. This requires someone the ability to "sell" Pillow, but you could have a very large impact with very little effort. Could be done from home or your office, but probably requires work during the day.
Newsletter Distribution
We have volunteers who write and translate our newsletter, but it would be great if one or two someones would volunteer every other Wednesday to copy, count, and get them into teacher boxes.
Staff Appreciation
Arrange thoughtful but inexpensive appreciation gifts for our various staff (weeks determined by AISD):
1) Custodial
2) Bus Drivers
3) Counselors
4) Aides & other unclassified
5) Cafeteria
Teacher Appreciation -- during the school day
Organize 2 big events -- Mardi Gras Breakfast and Teacher Appreciation Lunch. Help us figure out what to replace the adopt-a-staff program with (monthly treats in the workroom?) and organize that. (Volunteer Sign Ups can cover most of this work.)
Apartment Complex Coordinator
Something we've never done before! For your apartment complex, post flyers near mailboxes as needed, talk about school events at the bus stop, encourage involvement and volunteering, perhaps arrange parent coffees (with a teacher or administrator) in the public space. This is a new idea, so people who can help us figure what it could be would be great.
Grants
Something else we've not done before. Research grants that line up with our school needs, write grant applications. (We have 2 sample grant applications to get you started.) Will require a lot of self-starting, but can be done in the evenings from home.
T-Shirt Sales -- year long, but mostly in the Fall. You could do most of this job before and after school, although a couple of the t-shirt selling events happen during the school day.
We only design new t-shirts every other year. The "new shirt" / first year (2012-2013, 2014-2015) is more work (more sales) than the 2nd year. At the beginning of the year we have a big push to make t-shirts available to students by setting up tables at meet the teacher, back to school night, the first 2 Fridays of the year, and occasionally parent/grandparent lunches. (We can send out volunteer requests to help with these sales.) After that, t-shirt requests come in almost every week, and we need someone to get the order requests from the PTA box, check the money, label the t-shirt and put it in the student's teacher's box. At the end of the "even" school year (i.e. end of the 2013-2014 school year) we work with the art program to have students design the new t-shirt.
PTA membership -- this task is mostly in the Fall. You'll need availability for about 30 minutes after school or in the mornings about once a week, in addition to the 2 big events. Create form/brochure (we have previous years). Run a membership table at meet the teacher and back to school night. incentive bulletin board. Process forms as they come in, maintain membership list. Send report in to Texas PTA.
Bring your Dad to School Event -- Fall. The event is one morning, and the rest of the work can be done after school.
This person will manage and run this event. It's big -- usually 300 parents attend -- but over quickly. You would need to handle publicity and the event itself -- get food (or find someone to), keep within budget, inform teachers & staff.
We have a writeup of the work involved, and will send sign-ups to get volunteers to help.
Mom Morning Event -- Spring. The event is one morning, and the rest of the work can be done after school or in the evenings.
("Bring your Mom to School" or something similar)
To follow up our great "Bring your Dad to School Event" we want to host a similar event for moms.
Fall Fundraiser
Chair -- manage the whole process from setting up dates (if the board hasn't already), assembling & distributing packets, making sure student incentives are done, managing order processing and submission,
Student Incentives -- this is a daily job in the morning for 2 weeks (could easily be done before 8:15 AM). Students turn in "tickets" every day saying they've sold items, and we give them doo-dads (ducks, penguins, frogs) to wear on their lanyard. This person would get the tickets from the PTA mailbox, distribute the ducks (in morning assembly would be best, although via teacher mailboxes is OK -- or a mix of the 2). Also keep track of whose been given ducks to make sure we're not giving out more than once.
Helpers -- Package copying & assembly (at home work), Order Processing (2-3 afternoons after orders are turned in), Order Distribution (noon-3:00 on a pre-arranged date, plus follow-ups). Chair will send out a sign up genius for this work
Spirit Night -- McDonald's (Fall) Most work can we done after work hours via email.
Schedule with location, publicize: in newsletter, with stickers home on kids the day-of, via phone message from the office, mascot at morning assembly or at school dismissal. Follow up with location about fundraising check. Work with teachers to get their participation (via Sign Up Genius -- required for McDonald's).
Spirit Night -- Playland Skate (Fall) Most work can we done after work hours via email.
Schedule with location, publicize: in newsletter, with stickers home on kids the day-of, via phone message from the office, mascot at morning assembly or at school dismissal. Follow up with location about fundraising check. Work with teachers to get their participation
Spirit Night -- Chuck E Cheese (Fall) Most work can we done after work hours via email.
Schedule with location, publicize: in newsletter, with stickers home on kids the day-of, via phone message from the office, mascot at morning assembly or at school dismissal. Follow up with location about fundraising check. Work with teachers to get their participation
Spirit Night -- McDonald's (Spring) Most work can we done after work hours via email.
Schedule with location, publicize: in newsletter, with stickers home on kids the day-of, via phone message from the office, mascot at morning assembly or at school dismissal. Follow up with location about fundraising check. Work with teachers to get their participation (via Sign Up Genius -- required for McDonald's).
Spirit Night -- Playland Skate (Spring) Most work can we done after work hours via email.
Schedule with location, publicize: in newsletter, with stickers home on kids the day-of, via phone message from the office, mascot at morning assembly or at school dismissal. Follow up with location about fundraising check. Work with teachers to get their participation
Spirit Night -- Chuck E Cheese (Spring) Most work can we done after work hours via email.
Schedule with location, publicize: in newsletter, with stickers home on kids the day-of, via phone message from the office, mascot at morning assembly or at school dismissal. Follow up with location about fundraising check. Work with teachers to get their participation
Pillow Dance Party -- Spring event. One of our favorite events, and super easy. Can be done after school.
Coordinator -- arrange music, figure out what volunteers we need, decide if/how many glow things we want to sell, manage publicity
Decorations -- lead decorating for the dance with an extremely small budget
Spaghetti Bingo -- Spring. PTA Board will decide if we need this fundraiser. Multiple jobs here, but most can be done in the evenings/weekends
Coordinator -- fill out state paperwork and school district use paperwork, decide which games we are playing (we have last year's plan), find a "caller", manage publicity (newsletter/flyers home/sign)
Food -- we need someone to work with Olive Garden to order/pick up food, supervise volunteers to serve, make sure we have enough drinks, etc.
Prizes -- a team of people to solicit prizes from parents and local businesses
Partners in Education
In an effort to reduce our dependence on fundraisers, we'd like to try to solicit sponsorships from our local business community. This requires someone the ability to "sell" Pillow, but you could have a very large impact with very little effort. Could be done from home or your office, but probably requires work during the day.
Newsletter Distribution
We have volunteers who write and translate our newsletter, but it would be great if one or two someones would volunteer every other Wednesday to copy, count, and get them into teacher boxes.
Staff Appreciation
Arrange thoughtful but inexpensive appreciation gifts for our various staff (weeks determined by AISD):
1) Custodial
2) Bus Drivers
3) Counselors
4) Aides & other unclassified
5) Cafeteria
Teacher Appreciation -- during the school day
Organize 2 big events -- Mardi Gras Breakfast and Teacher Appreciation Lunch. Help us figure out what to replace the adopt-a-staff program with (monthly treats in the workroom?) and organize that. (Volunteer Sign Ups can cover most of this work.)
Apartment Complex Coordinator
Something we've never done before! For your apartment complex, post flyers near mailboxes as needed, talk about school events at the bus stop, encourage involvement and volunteering, perhaps arrange parent coffees (with a teacher or administrator) in the public space. This is a new idea, so people who can help us figure what it could be would be great.
Grants
Something else we've not done before. Research grants that line up with our school needs, write grant applications. (We have 2 sample grant applications to get you started.) Will require a lot of self-starting, but can be done in the evenings from home.