By Nancy Henry, Family Council Chair
What a school year it has been! I have been so grateful for our Wasatch Waldorf community, where our children have been safely nurtured through this tumultuous time. Whether online or in-person, our incredible teachers and staff have continued to deliver the high-level Waldorf education that brought us all to Wasatch Charter. But, dear parents, you have also helped build this magical school community! It’s incredible what you as parents have accomplished this school year. During this year, the Family Council, or parents’ organization, has seen a tremendous year of volunteering in spite of a global pandemic, when volunteer opportunities have been fewer than normal school years. With the implementation of our new Volunteer Tracking System, Track It Forward, we have been able to track over 3000 volunteer hours logged! Those hours include time and donations. It’s impossible to list all the many ways you have contributed, but let me highlight just a few:
• Monthly Family Council meetings on Zoom had high attendance, and many creative ideas were brought to fruition.
• Parent Coordinators for each class attended meetings, communicated with class parents, assisted their teachers with classroom needs, and spearheaded the class basket projects for the Spring Gala (every class donated a basket!).
• The Faculty/Staff Appreciation Committee provided our faculty and staff with special gifts and cards monthly.
• The Community Engagement Committee is creating a system for parents to welcome new families to our school, and they are organizing a virtual community cooking class with Chef Erin.
• An incredible parent committee put on the Virtual High School Review Night where 50+ families of 7th and 8th graders and representatives from 15 high schools attending.
• The Lost and Found committee cleaned out the lost and found bins, returned labeled items to their owners, and washed loads of laundry.
• The Fundraising Committee organized two virtual fundraising and community building events, the Harvest Festival and the Spring Gala, along with many parent volunteers to help them run successfully.
• Donations!!! You donated to Harvest Festival and the Spring Gala, making them overwhelmingly successful despite online formats. From class basket items to live auction items and everything in between, from bidding and buying to playing bingo, you raised more than $50,000 for the school at the Spring Gala. This included enough giving to establish beautiful outdoor classrooms for next year and help our teachers with their ever important Waldorf Teacher Training.
• The Sustainer Program! You have continued to support our Sustainer Program with ongoing monthly donations.
Thank you all, Wasatch families, for stepping up in so many ways!
We’d also like to highlight our volunteering families who have contributed over 80 hours each. Hats off the the Buchanan, Williams, Cox, Robinson, and Roller families!
If you are not yet registered to volunteer on Track It Forward, sign up here: https://www.trackitforward.com/site/wasatch-waldorf-charter-school-0 to be informed of every volunteer opportunity.
We are all expecting that next year will bring us many many more volunteer opportunities! If you are interested in finding out more about being involved in Family Council, the Fundraising Committee, or any other volunteer opportunities, please email volunteer@watachwaldorf.org. If you would like to fill a leadership position in the Family Council, we are still looking for a Chair and Vice-Chair for next year - please email familycouncil@wasatchwaldorf.org.