IMMACULATE CONCEPTION SCHOOL
HOME SCHOOL ASSOCIATION
JANUARY, 2010
 

Happy New Year! As we start 2010, all of us on the Home School Association are very excited about the events we’re bringing to you over the next several months. We hope you are looking forward to the Winter Gala and are getting your dancing shoes ready! This is our largest single day fundraiser of the year and a really fun evening. It is our hope that the school will come together as we prepare for this event with great attendance, great prizes, and a great show of support for this year’s honorees: Mrs Basile, The Brogan Family, and the Franciscan Sisters. Here are the updates from the January HSA meeting:

Here are the updates from the JANUARY HSA meeting:

DINNER DANCE

The Winter Dinner Dance Gala will be held on Saturday, February 6 at The Westchester Manor. Tickets are $75 per person and include an open bar, sit down dinner and dancing. We have fabulous raffle prizes this year and a 50/50 drawing. New this year will be a GOLD SALE. Gold is at a high price right now … bring your old gold jewelry, trade it in for cash and have your evening paid for plus some! Ticket information was sent home. Additional forms may also be found on the HSA website and in the church bulletin. Many classes are making this event a ladies night out. Get your friends together and indicate your table members on your ticket reservation form!

Prizes ….there currently is a decent prize list with some very desirable items, but more are needed. The committee is looking for items your family may have but have never considered donating – tickets to events, vacation home use, airline mile certificates, professional services etc. Some families are currently working on a Day at American Girl. Do you have any unopened American Girl items at your home that you would be willing to donate? Please contact the HSA with any prize donations at icsisthebest@yahoo.com. Prize donations should be delivered to Donna Hastings.

Each class is also asked to create a class page for the Journal, which is distributed at the event. Your class reps will be creating the page and each family is asked to contribute $5 for the cost of the submission.

The event JOURNAL is the major fundraising piece of the event. Your event ticket covers the cost of the dinner itself. Families are welcome to submit journal ads of their own and are asked to encourage any businesses they frequent to submit an ad or business card to the journal. Forms are available on the HSA website www.icshsa.org. The deadline for journal ad submission is January 23rd. Ads can be electronically submitted to the HSA email at icsisthebest@yahoo.com.



JANUARY CURRENT EVENTS

YOUTH NIGHT: the next youth night will be held on Friday, January 22 from 7-9 pm. For the first time this year, Grade 5 is invited to attend, along with grades 6-8. Future youth nights will be held in March and May.

FATHER/SON FOOTBALL EVENT - : On January 24th, fathers, sons, and other interested men in the parish will gather in the cafeteria to watch the AFC/NFC championship games. There will be food, beer, activities for the kids, as well as a raffle of a 46” HDTV and a Dell Desktop computer. The Father’s Club is also in the process of planning some activities for the Super Bowl. Information will be distributed through the Father’s Club.

COOKIE DOUGH SALE: The cookie dough sale will begin on January 25th and run through February 8th. These are really great cookies sold in re-freezable tubs. Minutes from freezer to cookie and easy enough that the kids can make the cookies

MOTHER/DAUGHTER TEA: will be held on Sunday, February 21st following the 10:30 Mass in the lower church. Rows in the front of the church will be reserved for the mothers & daughters and marked with bows. More information will be distributed closer to the event date.

Those of you looking for the Potluck Dinner, it will not be held this year as Catholic Schools Week is later this year and will end with our Dinner Dance Gala rather than the potluck.

REVIEW OF DECEMBER EVENTS

December was a busy month at our school! The Christmas Boutique and Breakfast with Santa were very fun and successful. Both events were the most profitable they have ever been as fundraisers! Thank you to everyone who volunteered to make these events happen and to those of you who supported the events with your attendance!

Winners of the December raffles this year were Julian Vuksanaj, PK4 (netbook computer) and Jack Zenarosa, 5th grade (Nintendo DSi). Congratulations to both of the winners! If you have an idea for the next HOT raffle item, please don’t be afraid to speak up!

Together our Yankee Candle and Sally Foster wrapping paper sales earned over $6,000. We hope that you enjoyed these items and the sales helped to make December a bit less hectic. A spring Yankee Candle sale is coming in March, just in time for Mother’s Day.

THE MUSICAL

Ms. Harten reported that auditions for the musical will be finished during the first week of January. Numerous students have signed up to participate and an announcement regarding practice schedules will be distributed shortly. If you are interested in volunteering to help with the Musical, please contact us.

YEARBOOK

Yearbook photo submissions are due by January 20th. Each class will have a collage of pictures from class events. Please check with your class rep regarding photo submissions that have been made for your class. Digital pictures can be sent to icsyearbook@hotmail.com. Hard copies of pictures may be sent to Mrs. Reda.

Photos are also needed ASAP for the creation of the 8th grade video. These may be sent to icsvideo@vazweb.com.

SUPPORT OUR SCHOOL

BOXTOPS FOR EDUCATION -We are gearing up for our February submission deadline. Please send in all of those Boxtops and Campbell’s Labels you have been collecting so that we can start counting.

Does your office use AVERY products? Binders, dividers, labels, markers etc? Avery products now have Boxtops on them, printed on the INSIDE of the wrapping. We have one office of a school family submitting theirs and they add up quickly! Please look around your office and grab them out of the trash or recycling bin!

Please check out the Boxtops website at www.btfe.com. There are daily contests under the Bonus Boxtops section which can earn the winning school hundreds of dollars with one click! On January 31 the “I Love My School Sweepstakes” returns.


STOP and SHOP - to date, 175 cards have been registered and the school has made $406 on this promotion. If you haven’t registered your Stop and Shop card yet please do so. This program runs through March 25.

OTHER ITEMS

YEARBOOK - Our yearbook committee is busy working on this year’s book. This year each class will have its own page. The committee is looking for photos from this year’s events with the goal of having a photo of each child. Your class reps will be looking for a volunteer to be the class yearbook contact. Photos should be emailed to Shannon Daugherty by the end of January.

A WORD FROM OUR PRINCIPAL & PASTOR

Ms. Harten reported that information will soon be distributed regarding the Political Evening being held on January 28, 7pm at Archbishop Stepinac High School. This is the Mandated Services Parent Rally to protest budget cuts. This event is for adults only. Junior High students may attend along with a parent but they must be in uniform. Parents are encouraged to car pool as there is very limited parking.

In addition, she reported that information will also be distributed regarding technology advancements and new equipment that has recently been acquired for classrooms.

Fr. Raaser announced that Carlos, our head maintenance man, had a heart attack over the Christmas break. He asked for everyone’s prayers for his recovery.

Fr. Raaser also announced that he will be meeting with the architects this week regarding the gym designs. The designs are being drawn with attention to making the gym a “green” building and to receive LEED certification. An application is being written in attempt to secure a Department of Energy grant. He is in the process of getting onto the Eastchester Town Board meeting schedule for approvals and hoping to break ground sometime in the late Spring.

There will not be a State of the School meeting this year, but instead Fr. Raaser will write a State of the School letter instead. He discussed the importance of recruitment, increasing attendance at the school, and promotion of the upcoming Open House to be held the first week of February.

ICS OPEN HOUSE: February 1st, 6-8 pm. February 2nd, 9-2. Please encourage any interested families to attend. Spread the word!

WIRELESS DEVICE RECYCLING: Please visit the ICS website www.icschoolonline.org for information on the wireless device recycling program. Send in your old phones, chargers, pagers, headsets etc. They will be donated to Hopeline, which will put the old equipment to work for victims of domestic violence.

The next HSA meeting will be held on Wednesday, February 3rd. Please contact your class rep if you have any questions or issues to be addressed. You can also contact the HSA aticsisthebest@yahoo.com.

We encourage you all to become involved in our Home School Association activities!

The Home School Association