OVERVIEW

The Parent-Teacher Organization at St. Frances Cabrini Academy (the Cabrini PTO) was established in 2003 after the consolidation of Notre Dame Elementary and St. Pius V School. PTO leaders from both Notre Dame and St. Pius joined as co-leaders for the first, transitional year of Cabrini. We have since been joined by parents from St. Anthony of Padua's school, which closed in 2005. This mix of parents from various area schools has given us a unique blend of experience and knowledge for our organization.

All parents of children at Cabrini “give something back” to the school during the school year. Volunteers are extremely important to the functioning of the school, not only for the fundraising events, but also at many school events. The PTO helps coordinate volunteers for many events, such as our Ice Cream Social, Back to School Night, Parent-Teacher Conferences, Christmas Concert Night, Catholic Schools Week, and Field Day.

The Cabrini PTO has been very fortunate to have so many dedicated parents who work long and hard to make sure our financial goals are met and our events go smoothly. But the PTO is only one part of the whole picture. Our parents make the PTO, the students make the school, and the staff makes it happen. St. Frances Cabrini Academy has been very fortunate to have so many people who care so deeply about the school. But what's not to care about? There's just something about the place...

FUNDRAISING

The Cabrini PTO is, first and foremost, a fundraising group. Our organization is required to raise at least $25,000 each year to help fund some of the school's programs, such as physical education, computers, and music. We have concentrated most of our yearly effort into two major fundraising events (one in the fall and one in the spring), so that we don't overwhelm our parents with a perpetual series of fundraisers all year long.

Walkathon - Our fall event is a Walkathon, which we hold in Tower Grove Park in October. The children receive pledges for walking a route in the park. Afterwards we hold a potluck meal at one of the park's pavilions.

Dinner Auction - Our spring event is a Dinner Auction, usually held at St. Vincent de Paul Church hall. We have a catered dinner, entertainment, and offer lots of items in a silent auction.

“SCRIP” - We also have an ongoing program that is generating more and more funding each year. This is called the “scrip” program. We purchase, from one company, gift cards or certificates for many local restaurants, grocery stores, and retailers. We purchase these cards and certificates at a discount (between 2 and 20%, depending on the business) and sell them at face value. The amount of our discount, then, becomes our profit. The great things about this fundraiser are (1) our school families are not required to fill a sales quota, (2) much of the sales are generated from the parish communities, and (3) these cards and certificates are often used to make purchases that would be made anyway (for instance, to buy groceries).

We are always open to new ideas for fundraising and constantly tweaking our old standbys to make them better.

Cabrini in the Community

Our two main fundraising events happen to be good community builders as well. Not only do we gather as a school family and have a lot of fun together during the Walkathon, we are very visible as a school during that afternoon in Tower Grove Park, with our T-shirts and banners. Our dinner auction gives us a chance to see many people outside our school community that come back year after year to show their support. These two events are a lot of work, but they're also a lot of fun. It's really great when we all work together to pull off one of our events and accomplish our goal.

GROWTH OF THE PTO

There are many tasks around the school that can be accomplished through the time and effort (and expertise) of volunteers. This year the PTO board developed a parent volunteer survey to match more parents with more volunteer opportunities. The results of this first effort are very encouraging, although we know it will take more time before we have a full database that includes all parents' areas of interest and expertise.

One of the challenges for the Cabrini PTO is working through language and cultural barriers. We have several parents that do not speak English well, and others that come from cultures where being involved in the school is simply not done. We feel that including all parents in our efforts is crucial to the success of their children and of the school in general, so we invite all parents to join our efforts. Again, we have a great deal of committed support, but we are always trying to do better. We are now specifically working toward increasing the percentage of parents who participate at meetings, school events, and fundraisers. One of our goals this past year was to boost parent participation, and we have seen an increase. So, we are definitely on the right track.

—Valerie Sharp, PTO President, June 2006