FRIENDS OF RMS

Friends of Reed Middle School (Friends of RMS) 2009-2010 Board: 

President:  Lynda Lowery  465-5858 email: lynda8630@comcast.net

Vice President:  Rhonda Wise 422-2183 

Treasurer:  Melissa Payne 876-9415 email: m13payne@gmail.com

Secretary: Tonya Ott  426-1098 email:  ott61611@juno.com

Trustee/8th Grade Project Coordinator:  Chris Gnodtke 426-4134 email: atkmann@aol.com

Trustee/8thGrade Project Coordinator:  Shannon Jones 465-6574 email: jhike@me.com

Boxtops/Web Site:  Patti Vazquez  465-4757 pattiv@comcast.net 

Volunteers:

**Without volunteers, it would be impossible to continue the services that Friends of RMS provides.  We would like to thank everyone for their support last year and encourage you to volunteer again this year. The children of this school benefit from your dedication and volunteer service to enhance their education and extra curricular activities.

Volunteers are currently needed for:

None at present.

****If you are interested in volunterring, please email me at lynda8630@comcast.net or by calling me 465-5858.

Thank you,

Lynda

A Friends "Thank You" for the month of January & February: 

Valentine Sale – Chris Gnodtke, Deanna Adams, Deena Armstrong, Netty Wohler, Shannon Jones, Dawn Oldenburg, Julie Pyburn, Jamie Smith, Kathy Hanke and Ellen Cassidy.  An even bigger “Thank You” to Netty Wohler for putting together the valentine treats and doing all of the running around for supplies.  Also to Chris Gnodtke and Shannon Jones for helping  with the valentine sale and the deliveries with Netty.

Concessions:  #1 to Melissa Barker for scheduling the whole girls basketball season concession – Not an easy task by any means! To all of you who worked – Peggy Ferguson, Cindy Snyder, Fred Beckman, Lori Graves (Thank You Twice!), Mr. King, Monique Lewald, Kelly King, Paula Witherow (Thank You Twice), Darcy & Kennedy Jones, Shannon Jones and Mr. Freyer.

Valentine Dance:  Shannon Jones and Kelly King

On February 16th & 17th, Trooper Tim Gene came in to talk to the grades individually about Internet Safety.  In addition to this topic, he also talked to the 7th & 8th grades about sex-ting.  I stayed with each grade as he spoke to them and noticed that the kids were genuinely listening to what he had to say and I actually think most of them learned a thing or two.  I know I did.  I think it is important that this age be made aware of the dangers that are out there and are taught how to keep themselves as safe as possible.  We as parents cannot watch our kids 24-7, but if we can make just one child “think” about what they are about to do, then it was worth every minute of this assembly.  Informational sheets will be available at the Friends of RMS table during conferences.  I urge you to take this sheet home and just by what was said during one of the presentations, I also urge you to take another copy to give to grandparents as well.  Trooper Gene has agreed to a parent talk in the evening for anybody who is interested.  A sign-up sheet will also be available at our table during conferences if you would like to sign up.  I encourage you to listen to what he has to say.  I consider myself a computer savvy and aware person and even I learned something from his talk.

As you clean out your closets and corners, I hope you will remember to donate to our recycling effort.  Friends has received a lot of items already and I have needed to clean out the box on several occasions! We are off to a great start and I encourage you to bring us more. Tell your neighbors and family to consider sending their items our way as well.  We will have one more big push through the March conferences.  Thank you to everybody who has donated their items. Friends and the environment appreciates it!!!!

Friends of RMS Recycling Effort: 

Cartridges for Kids is a way to recycle many "electronic" items you no longer want, use or are broken in your household.  The types of items that can be recycled are: 

Cell Phones, GPS Devices, iPods, DVD's, PDA's

Inkjet or Laser Cartridges, Video Games & Consoles

Digital Cameras, and laptops

This company recycles the item instead of it ending up in a landfill and our organization receives money for the items. If you are interested in this effort or are curious how much an item may be worth, please feel free to look up the website at www.cartridgesforkids.com  As the holiday season approaches and all the "new" gadgets come out, consider recycling anything you no longer use or that is broken.

Things we are working on:  Putting together a “family” bowling night, Teacher appreciation week and an end of the year celebration for all the grades.

Box Tops for Education collection will be the month of March.  Our theme will be “March Madness”.  The grades will be competing with each other.  For every 10 box tops collected a grade will earn 1 basket (or 2 pts) and “bonus” box tops will earn a 3 pt shot.  Scores will be posted weekly on the wall in front of the office.  The winning class will get an ice cream sandwich during lunch on the Friday after we return from Spring Break.

March Reading Month:  I have received many writing pieces and art work for our 2nd annual publication of “Write Down The Middle”.  This is book that is put together from poems, stories and artwork from all of the grades which are submitted by their teachers and published into a book form. It is a great way to promote writing skills and gives the kids a chance to show off their talents in several different ways.  Mrs. Spencer is the teacher who is helping me coordinate this effort. Thank You Lindsey!

I ordered scented book marks for the kids to be passed out in March. These were a big hit last year, so we thought we would do it again.

Also, on February 9th Friends of RMS submitted a grant to the Heart of Cook Foundation thru the Berrien Community Foundation to purchase supplies for a program that we are trying to kick start for the 7th & 8th graders.  Leslie Rantz (P.E. Teacher) approached me a few months back about wanting to teach CPR to 7th and 8th graders during their physical education classes.  When I brought this concept to the Friends of RMS board to see what (if any) financial support we could bring to this project, Tonya Ott (secretary Friends of RMS) suggested contacting John Krieger from Cook Plant.  John has extensive knowledge in training and has worked in this field for years. Tonya hooked John up to me, I then hooked up John with Leslie to pin point her exact needs and wants for this program.  The short of the story is we were able through the generosity of John Krieger and Cook Plant to get this training free of charge.  While we could borrow from many different sources, the manikins and resources required to do this task, we thought it might be beneficial to have our own.  So I wrote and submitted a grant proposal to the Heart of Cook Foundation for the amount of $2,700.00 to acquire these training tools which include, manikins (adult & infant), instructor manuals, student work books, training dvd’s and disposable face shields for practice. This commitment would require a yearly upkeep of approximately $700-$1000 yearly for additional workbooks and disposable face shields which could be maintained by Heart of Cook mini grants, Acorn Grants and the addition to adding a budget line item in the Friends of RMS budget to be able to help maintain this program.  We will find out in May if we have been awarded this grant, so keep your fingers crossed!! By having our own equipment, we could eventually be able to train staff members and hold training for parents.

I support this as a life-long learning tool for our students and encourage that this program move forward in years to come.  I thank Tonya for suggesting the right person for the job. This is a perfect example of throw something out there, grab the right people, put them together and see what happens. Great job Tonya!

Lynda Lowery465-5858

We have many exciting things planned for the 2009-2010 school year. Please check back often for updates and never hesitate to contact us for information or questions.                                            Lynda Lowery