NMS Tag Sale Helped Roughly 40 Families

By Eliza Hallabeck

While the front lawn at Newtown Middle School was attracting attention for the 2010 Scarecrow Contest on Sunday, October 24, NMS parents and students from Cluster 8 Purple were busy overseeing a tag sale and bake sale.

Co-organizer Robbin Allen said this week, the tag sale was “pretty good.”

The 2010 Scarecrow Contest entries went on display at the school’s front lawn on Saturday, October 23, and voting was open through the weekend. Ms Allen said the tag sale and the contest fed into one another.

The tag sale ran from 9 am until 4 pm, and sold baked goods along with an assortment of tag sale items. The event was held to raise funds to help students in the cluster with payments for a scheduled field trip to Washington, D.C., near the end of the school year. Ms Allen said the sale will help support the school’s annual cookie dough sale that also helps families of NMS students offset the $600 field trip.

Ms Allen organized the event with NMS parent Liam Heller.

“I’m hoping we started something in getting people to think outside the box,” said Ms Allen, “and having something that engages the kids.”

Since the tag sale, Ms Allen said she has heard rumors from other eighth grade clusters in the school of future fundraisers, and she hopes Cluster 8 Purple will also work to raise funds.

The event raised $600, and remaining goods were donated to Make a Home Foundation, run by Anita Pettengill and Dan Tedesco out of 87 Church Hill Road. The Make a Home Foundation collects household furniture and items to donate to people in need. More information on the foundation is available at www.makeahome.org.

Roughly 40 families participated in the tag sale, and each participating family will receive an equal portion of the proceeds from the event, according to Ms Allen.

Last week Ms Allen said, “This is just a group of focused parents doing something to make sure every student who wants to go can go.”

Each parent and student who helped run and collect items for the event was instrumental, according to Ms Allen, and she thanked NMS Principal Diane Sherlock for her support.

“She was really encouraging,” said Ms Allen. “I hope this means other clusters will start doing their own fundraisers.”