The pie has been cut and East
Chapel Hill High got the largest slice of the recent PTA Thrift Shop contribution
to the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools.
Genie
Jackson, chairwoman of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools’ Parent-Teacher
Association, presented the Board of Education a $487,431 ceremonial check
at the Sept. 7 meeting, but she did not say how much individual schools would
receive.
Buffie
Webber, executive director of the local PTA Thrift Shops, released the figures
September 13.
The PTA Thrift Shop based distributions
to the individual PTAs on school enrollment--40 percent--and the total number
of Thrift Shop volunteer hours contributed by each school--60 percent, Webber
said.
East
Chapel Hill High logged the most number of hours in relation to their student
population, with an average of 6.5 hours per student, Webber said. The hard
work of the schools’ volunteers has paid off to the tune of $84,715 for the
school.
Frank
Porter Graham Elementary and Estes Hills Elementary were other top performers.
“Most
schools provide three to four and half hours of volunteer time per student,”
she said.
The PTA Thrift Shop does not
specify how the schools should spend their money. That decision is left to
individual PTAs, said Lisa Stuckey, PTA President Representative to the Board
of Education.
Stuckey,
who is president of the McDougle Middle School PTA, said last year’s Thrift
Shop donation played a big role in bringing together parents and schools through
the publication of newsletters, student directories and parent handbooks.
Teachers
at the schools also benefited from the donations, she said.
PTAs organized teacher appreciation
breakfasts and lunches, as well as provided extra funding for classroom supplies
“so that teachers wouldn’t dip into their own pockets,” Stuckey said.
Schools
often bring poets, musicians, dancers and other artists into the schools with
PTA money.
PTA
Thrift Store money helped fund an innovative mapping project that brought
together fourth and eighth graders studying North Carolina history at McDougle
elementary and middle Schools last year, Stuckey said.
PTA
money also funded two courses on web page design and video documentation at
McDougle Middle School, she added.
Calling
the PTA Thrift Shop a community endeavor, Genie Jackson said the shop is based
on three premises: “The community will donate clothes, books and furniture;
volunteers will allow the shop to save money on their payroll; and the shop
will sell recycled and quality merchandise to many eager customers.”
Jackson said she hoped the
public would continue to shop for bargains at the stores.
“Support our efforts so we
can support your efforts,” she said at the Board of Education meeting.
PTA Thrift Shops are located
in the Village Plaza shopping center in Chapel Hill and on Jones Ferry Road
in Carrboro.
Volunteers
work at the stores with employees like Frances Harris, who has worked at the
Thrift Shop for nine years. Harris said volunteers do whatever needs to be
done around the store. “Whatever” could be sorting through the huge mound
of bagged donations in the side room of the Carrboro store, dusting shelves
or washing windows, she said.
Christine
Gebhardt, PTA volunteer manager, recruits volunteers from the community. Interested
volunteers should call her at 960-7413 to learn more information.
Sources:
Buffie Webber, PTA Thrift Shop executive director:
PTAShopExecDir@aol.com
(work:942-6565)
Lisa Stuckey, PTA President Representative: 5stuckey@bellsouth.com , (942-8373)
Genie Jackson, PTA Chairwoman: GenieJ@mindspring.com
Frances Harris, Carrboro PTA Thrift Shop employee:
(work: 967-1272)