Thank You to Everyone for a Wonderful Whole Foods Day for the Elementary School! Come join the planning for the garden.
I am glad to announce that Mount Washington Elementary School had a wonderful and successful 5% day at Whole Foods on January 12th. The neighborhood came out and helped support the school by doing their shopping – and having some fun! There were activities all day, including celebrity baggers, activities and fun for kids. When I shopped in the late afternoon, my kids particularly enjoyed listening to a story read by MWES PTO president Gina Foringer and making music with Lee Dix. The fundraiser was successful with the school receiving a total of $6,777 between Whole Foods, the 50% match donation made by the Himmelrich Associates, Inc., who own the Mount Washington Mill where Whole Foods is located, and a few cash contributions. This money will be used for a garden program for the school. There will be a meeting at Whole Foods on January 22nd at 8:30 am to talk about the garden and nutrition program and how to help move forward. The community is invited to attend and help plan for the garden and nutrition program which are hoped to provide a resources for the school and the community, along with the Outdoor Classroom.
Lisa Kelemen, one of the main organizers of the event, reports:
I think the event was a complete success. It was such a fun day – especially talking with fellow MWES parents and others from the community about the school and the projects we want to undertake. There’s a lot of talent in the parents of the MWES children, so we hope that the money we raised will go far in establishing a vegetable garden and nutrition program at the school. In addition to the money Whole Foods donated, they also donated door prizes (a reusable grocery bag with Whole Foods brand “365 products” inside) for our hourly giveaways and hot chocolate and snacks for the story times.
City Council President and to-be Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake bagging groceries
Highlights of the day included Mayor-to-be and City Council President Stephanie Rawlings-Blake bagging groceries! She was very focused on the task-at-hand! I was both impressed at how she still honored her commitment to us (in light of the Mayor resigning) and at how hard she worked!
We also had Councilwoman Ricki Spector join us to bag groceries.
Numerous parents volunteered throughout the day, including Samara Simmorins, Stephanie Regenold, Dan Meisner, Pat Hill, Toni VonderHaar, Cecilia Meisner, Ailish Meisner, Phil Rhodes, Giselle Middlebrooks, Brook Kearly, Laura Rashkin, Christie Charles, Jeannine August, and Laura Laing. Some had kids in tow. Ailish Meisner bagged groceries with her 5-month-old baby girl strapped to the front of her! Now that’s committment!! Parent-to-be, Randy Beckford, worked the entryway almost the entire day handing out stickers that have the MWES website on it and encouraging shoppers to put some extra things in their carts! Her husband, Will Beckford, also came by to bag groceries. My mom, Mary Sims, helped for a large part of the afternoon doing everything from bagging groceries to interacting with customers.
Lee Dix was a huge hit!!! She is a natural in front of children and many kids requested to come back to the second story time after enjoying the first so much! My youngest son, Jonah, was one of the 11am kids and he had a ball!
At the 4pm story time, we had many of our MWES kids show up. Many of the kids donned MWES Outdoor Classroom tshirts and encouraged customers to do some “extra shopping” to benefit their school.
Gina Foringer was instrumental in increasing the level of excitement in the store – both using the intercom – and not – to announce why we were there and to hand out door prizes.
Our own Principal, Sue Torr, came to bag groceries and greet MWES families as they came through with their children. Many teachers also shopped at the store, receiving a rock star welcome when their students saw them come through!
Principal Sue Torr with some of the groceries!
Lastly, we ended the day with a jazz band, Jazz Jones, with MWES dad Ian Rashkin on double bass. They were incredible!
I hope I didn’t miss anyone. It was such a wonderful experience to be a part of this. Lastly, I would like to mention that Molly Kushner, who does community relations for the Mount Washington Whole Foods Market was a huge support and kept us going all day. The employees at Whole Foods were also incredibly supportive and fun to work with!
Randy Beckford wrote to add that she wanted to make sure to give Lisa credit for all of the hard work she did on behalf of the school. Lisa was able to bring together the support of the MWES community, organize volunteers, design a brochure, secure local “celebrity” baggers, plan activities and participate all day Tuesday – all of this in a very short time frame. Randy added that, “the school and the community are lucky indeed to have parents, like Lisa, who believe in this cause: nutritional education for our little ones and passing along a healthy legacy!” A big congratulations to all of the parents and volunteers who pulled off this effort to help the school and the community.
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