|
Updated April 9th, 2009
Mountain Avenue Raises
$20K for Computer Lab
 Assemblyman Anthony Portantino
presents a proclamation to M.A.C.K.
President Greg Grande.
By KAREN GEE MCAULEY
Special to the Outlook
More than 150 Mountain
Avenue Elementary supporters
attended the 17th annual parent’s
night out and raised more than
$20,000 for the school’s new computer
lab to be installed this month
during spring break. Parents took a
mini-vacation at the Luau-themed
event held at the La Cañada
Flintridge home of Leah and Kirk Dilbeck. Guests were transported to
the islands as they sipped classic
Mai Tais, Chi Chis and enjoyed
Hawaiian food from Damon’s, a
custom-made dessert from Porto’s
and authentic Hawaiian dancers.
Mountain Avenue Committed to
Kids (M.A.C.K.) sponsors the event
in which parents come together to
make friends, raise funds and have
fun. Proceeds support the campaign
“Building For Our Future” to ensure
an optimal environment for learning,
including maintaining and
enhancing the school’s library and
computer lab, staffing, materials
and equipment.
Greg Grande, M.A.C.K. board
president, and Rebeca Witt, principal,
said they were fortunate to
have the community’s support and
that even in challenging times, students
and their futures take priority.
According to the administrators,
they are embarking on an
exciting phase of integrating technology
and art more fully into the
classroom curriculum and these
funds will make the new computer
lab a reality, including physical
upgrades, new workstations, software
and staff training and development.
Two of the liveliest portions of
the evening were the silent and live
auctions that fetched the lion’s
share of money. The live auction
items included weekends at The
Oaks at Ojai, Mammoth, Universal
Studios and Sheraton Universal.
Raffle baskets from each grade
level, donations from teachers, a
new 50/50 raffle which gave guests
a chance to win $2,500 and opportunity
raffles sold that night were
hugely popular.
M.A.C.K. funds immediate and
long-term grant requests, such as
student desks, computer lab and
music teachers’ salaries, as well as
long term capital expenditures,
including enhancing and expanding
the computer lab. In the past
four years, M.A.C.K has raised
more than $250,000 for the school
and funded critical staff positions,
including the librarian, computer
and music teachers; the purchase of
new playground equipment; 38
new Macintosh computers for the
computer lab; and enhanced the
school’s library with computers,
books, encyclopedias, video and
DVD tools.
|
