Good afternoon Local School Foundations:

We want to thank you all again for your hard work and dedication to your school and other schools in PPS. Collectively you raised $2.7 million last year and contributed nearly $760,000 to the 2010/11 PPS Equity Fund — this is a 5% increase over last year. In addition to the nearly $760,000 raised last year we will be adding over $64,000 from Equity funds unspent prior to 2007. This year we are able to distribute $824,000 in Equity Fund dollars. From those funds $580,000* will be used to support PPS School-based Equity Grants. . . . When you have a moment please pass this along to your parent community, we will also have this information available on our website soon.

Please stay tuned for more information on the PPS Community-based Equity Grants. The deadline for those applications is Monday, April 12th. We will be awarding the remaining $244,000 in Equity Funds to those organizations that directly serve schools in PPS. For more information on this grant please visit our website at http://www.thinkschools.org/grant-programs/ .

Finally, if you have a moment please check out the Oregonian article discussing the PPS Equity Fund:
Portland Schools Foundation gives $580000 to local schools
OregonLive.com

* $35,000 has been set aside to support Alternative Schools who serve students within PPS. The following organizations will receive a PPS School-based Equity Award: Albina Youth Opportunity School - $11,000; NAYA Early College Academy - $12,000; Rosemary Anderson School - $12,000.

From the Portland Schools Foundation

-The Foundation has raised $33,000 this year.

-Cindy Roby has set forth three priorities for the next academic year: optimal class sizes, no blends and maintaining Art, Music, Library and P.E.

-Projections show a funding GAP between what PPS will fund and those priorities of $480,000 worth of full-time equivalents (teaching positions).

-To raise $480,000, each and every family needs to participate.

-There are 518 children at Ainsworth.  This means we must raise $927 for each child at Ainsworth to achieve optimal class sizes, no blends and maintain all of our beloved specials.

-There are many ways to participate: Donate money to the Foundation, donate an item for Red Ball, donate a few bottles of wine for the Wine Wall at Red Ball or donate of your time and energy at Red Ball.  Attend Red Ball and bid well!

With advice from the Site Council, Principal Cindy Roby has identified and recommended an immediate stop-gap measure to improve the situation for these students: Add two hours to the educational assistant’s schedule for those classes.  The educational assistant would then spend 2.5 hours in each of those two classes.  While we recognize that this solution is not a permanent fix, Ms. Roby is committed to seek and plan for better solutions for next year and the long term.

The increase in the educational assistant’s hours from four to six requires an additional $11,000 from our Foundation to support the Ainsworth school budget — beyond what our Foundation already committed for the current school year (based on last year’s fundraising efforts).  The limited on-hand capital at the Foundation has been earmarked to support fundraising operations (like the 2010 Red Ball) for the current year.

Notwithstanding these facts, extraordinary times call for unusual measures.  So our Foundation has committed the $11,000 necessary to increase the educational assistant’s time, and the effect will be immediate.  Beginning today, the educational assistant will be working six hours per day with increased time in those two classrooms.

To cover this additional and important cost, the Foundation is conducting a fundraising drive for this specific action and seeking donations from parents.

From today, Monday, October 12^th to Friday, October 23^rd, all donations up to $11,000 will be applied directly to funding the increase in the educational assistant’s schedule.  You may donate by

• a check left in the Foundation box (pledge envelopes are in the box)
• mailing your donation to The Ainsworth Foundation

PMB 278

6327 Capitol Highway, Suite C

Portland, OR 97239

• PayPal at www.ainsworthfoundation.org. (Note: Donations from your bank account are not subject to the 2% fee that credit card transactions impose).

All donations are charitable contributions and tax deductible.

Any funds over and above $11,000 will be applied to Foundation fundraising for the next year and applied to long term solutions for our community.

Thank you in advance for stepping up and supporting Ainsworth in funding this stop-gap solution!

3M Company
Abbott Laboratories
ADP
Aetna, Inc.
Aim Co.
Albertson’s Inc.
Albina Community Bank
Allegro Microsystems
Alliance Capital Mgmt., LP
Allied-Signal Inc.
American Express
American Honda Motor Co., Inc.
American International Group
American Stock Exchange
Analog Devices, Inc.
Anheiser-Busch Companies
Aon Corporation
Apple Foundation
ARCO Foundation
Associates First Capital
AT&T Foundation
Automatic Data Processing, Inc.
Avon Productions Foundation
Avon Products, Inc.
AXA Financial, Inc.
Bank of America
Bank of Boston
Bank One, NA
Bankers Trust Company
Baxter Allegiance Foundation
Bay Networks
Bell Atlantic
Bellcore
Best Products Foundation
Bestfoods
BF Goodrich Company
Black & Decker Corporation
Boeing
Boston Edison
Boston Globe Foundation
BP Amoco Corporation
Bright Horizons
Broadstone Technologies
Brunswick Foundation, Inc.
Callison Architects
CAN Foundation
Capital Group Companies, Inc.
Cascade Eye and Scan Center
Centris Group, Inc.
CFX Corporation
Champion International Corporation
Charles River Laboratories, Inc.
Charles Schwab Company, Inc.
Chase Manhattan Bank, N.A.
Chevron Corporation
Chicago Title & Trust Company
Chubb and Son Inc.
Chubb Life/Jefferson Pilot
Ciba-Corning, Inc.
Cigna Foundation
Circuit City Stores Inc.
Cisco Systems, Inc.
Citgo Petrolkeum Corp.
Citibank/Citicorp
CitiCorp
City of Portland
CNF
Coca-Cola Company
Colgate-Palmolive Co.
Compaq
Computer Associates
Conoco Inc.
Continental Brass
Continental Insurance
Cooper Industries
Core Electronics
Corning Incorporated
Corning, Inc.
Covestic
Cummings Property Foundation
Data Instruments
David Evans & Associates
Dell
Delux Check Printers, Inc.
DFS North America
Dictaphone Corporation
Digital Equipment Corp.
Direct Marketing Solutions
Dow Chemical Company
Dow Corning Corporation
Duracell, Inc.
Eastern Enterprises
Eastern Mountain Sports
Eaton Corporation
Eli Lilly & Company
Embassy Suites, Inc.
Emerson Electric Company
Equitable Insurance
Ericsson Inc.
Erie Scientific
Exxon Corporation
Fannie Mae
Fanny Farmer
Fatigue Technology
Federated Department Stores Inc.
Fiduciary Trust Company
Fieldstone
Filene’s
Fingerhut Corporation
Fireman’s Fund Foundation
Fisher Scientific International
Fleet Financial Group
Follett Company
Freddie Mac
Fuji Bank, Ltd.
Fund American Enterprises
GAP
General Cinema Corporation
General Dynamics
General Mills
General Mills Foundation
General Motors
Georgia Pacific Corporation
GMLD International
Goodyear Tire & Rubber
Grantham, Mayo, Van Otterloo
Graphic Controls, Corp.
Grinnell Corporation
GTE Foundation
H.& R. Block, Inc.
H.J. Heinz Company Foundation
Hallmark Cards, Inc.
Hambrecht & Quist, LLC
Hanna Anderson
Harcourt General
Hartford Steam Boiler Co.
HBO & Company
Heidrick & Struggles
Heublein Foundation
Hewlett Packard
Hoechst Celanese
Home Depot, Inc.
Home Savings of America
Honeywell, Inc.
Houghton Mifflin
Household International, Inc.
Hoyt St Properties
IBM
ICT Group, Inc.
IDG Communications
Illinois Tool Works Foundation
Index Technology Corp.
InfoSpace
Ingram Micro
Integra Telecom
Intel
Irvine Corporation
J.C. Penny Co., Inc.
Jacob’s Engineering
James Irvine Foundation
John Hancock Mutual Life Ins. Co.
Johnson Controls Foundation
JP Morgan & Company, Inc.
K Mart Corporation
Kawasaki Motors
Kemper Group
Kettle Foods
Key Foundation
Kimberly-Clark
King Cycle Group
Kowson Architecture
Kraft General Foods
Kraft, Inc.
KZLA-FM
Labinal
Lawyers Title Insurance Corporation
Les Schwab
Levi Strauss & Company
Lexmark International Inc.
Liz Claiborne Inc.
Loews Corporation
Lotus Development Corp.
Lubrizol Corporation
Lucent
Lucent Technologies
Lydall, Inc.
Malinckrodt Group Inc.
Markem Corporation
Mascoma Savings Bank
Mass Mutual- Blue Chip Co.
Massachusetts Financial Services
MasterCard International Inc.
Mattel Children’s Foundation
May Stores Foundation
Mazda
McDonald’s Corporation
McGraw-Hill, Inc.
McMaster-Carr CompanyMead Corp.
Media One Group
Mellon Bank
Mentor Graphics
Merck & Company Inc.
Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc.
Microsoft, Inc.
Miller’s Outpost
Millipore Corporation
MITHUN architects + designers + planners Mobil Oil Corporation Monsanto Company Montgomery Ward & Co., Inc.
Morgan Guaranty Trust Co.
Morrison & Foerster, LLP
Morton International Inc.
Motorola, Inc.
Mutual of America
Nabisco Brands, Inc.
National Starch & Chemical
NCR Company
Neiman Marcus Group
New England Business Service
New England Electric System
New York Times
Newmont Mining
Nike
Nissan North America Inc.
Norm Thompson
Northern Trust Company
Norton Company Foundation
NVIDIA
Olin Corporation
Olson, Sundberg Architecture
Oppenheimer Funds, Inc.
OSRAM - Sylvania
Pacific Enterprises
PacifiCorp
Pella Corporation
Pennzoil Company
Pepsico, Inc.
Peterson Company
Pfizer Inc.
PGE
Phelps Dodge Corporation
Philip Morris Companies Inc.
Pitney Bowes Inc.
Pitson Company
Platinum Technology, Inc.
Polaroid Corporation
Portland Energy Conservation Inc.
Potlach
PPG Industries
Pratt & Larson Tile
Prudential
Prudential Insurance
Quaker Oats Company
QualComm
R.C. Baker
Radio Shack
Ralston Purina
Raytheon Company
Reader’s Digest Foundation
Related Companies
Reuters America, Inc.
RJ Reynolds Tobacco
RLI Insurance Company
Rockwell InternationalSafeco
Sara Lee Corp.
Sempra Energy
Sentry Insurance
Shearson Lehman Brothers Inc.
Sierra Nevada
SmithKline Beecham
Sony Corporation
Sony Pictures Entertainment
Southern California Gas Company
Sprint Corporation
St. Paul’s Partners in Giving
Stanford Medical School
Stanley Works
Starbucks
State Farm Mutual Auto Insurance Co.
Steven’s Printing
Stony Field
Subaru of America, Inc.
Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Sybase
T. Rowe Price Associates Inc.
Taco Bell
Tandy Corporation
Tazo Tea
Tektronix Inc.
Temple-Inland
Tenet Healthcare
Tenneco Inc.
Texas Instruments
Textron
The Boston Company
The Gillette Company
The Irvine Company
The Kellog Company
The Pioneer Group, Inc.
The Stanley Works
Thiokol-Foundation
Time Warner Inc.
Tom’s of Maine
Toyota Technical Center
Transamerica System and Administration
Travelers Express
Travelers Insurance Companies
Tricon Foundation
TRW Foundation
Tyco Laboratories
U.S. Bancorp
U.S. Borax Inc.
U.S.A., Inc
Unicom
Union Pacific Corporation
United Asset Management Corp.
United Parcel Service
United Postal Service
United Technologies Corp.
Universal Studios
UNUM
Upjohn Company
UPS Foundation
US Airways
USG Foundation, Inc.
Velcro USA
VERITAS Software Corp.
W.M. Keck Foundation
Warner Music Group
Warner-Lambert Company
Washington Mutual
Washington Post
Waste Management Inc.
Weelabrator Technologies
Weingart Foundation
Wells Fargo
Westinghouse Electric
Weyerhaeuser Co.
Whirlpool Corporation
Winthrop, Inc
Xerox Foundation

We recently met with Principal Roby and saw firsthand her commitment to making this year a success for our children.   She has a number of creative ideas she is considering, including looking across the resources of the entire community (Spanish and English), to try to achieve an acceptable balance at all grade levels.  

Unfortunately the economy continues to struggle, and projections for enrollment in the coming years continue to increase.   Our goal has always been to maintain the positions that we currently have, and this year we hope to do even more. In recent years we have raised the largest amount of any elementary school in our district and maintained many of the positions other schools have lost.

We would like to thank everyone who donated their time and money to our Foundation last year. This community is full of generous, dedicated people who continue to make our school a great success. Please support our Foundation this year with your time and your donations! You can contribute in many ways, and we encourage you to join us.

The New Families Coffee will be held Tuesday, September 22 at 8:15 am in the cafeteria.  This is an informal opportunity for new families to mingle with one another and learn about the Foundation.

The Red Ball Kick Off meeting will be held Wednesday, September 30 at 8:15 am in the cafeteria.  Approximately 70% of the Foundation’s funding is raised at Red Ball.  We need volunteers for this fantastic event.

Both meetings are open to everyone and we encourage you to attend.

The actual meeting dates are:

Oct. 7,  Nov. 4, Dec. 2, Jan. 6, Feb 3, March 3, April 7, May 5, June 2

Please save the date for Red Ball 2010 which will be held Saturday, February 27, 2010 at The Nines.

Your time, energy, procurements and purchases made the event a success. A special thank you to the following people who had integral roles in putting this year’s event together: Jennifer O’Brien, Trina Denson, Marla McLeod-Ali, Kerry Godfrey-Scroggins, Lucy Reynolds, Veronica Powell, Heidi Butenshoen, Judy Evans, Nancy Zadoff, Jackie Blodgett, Nancy Leitgeb, April Leahy, Lauren Christensen, Greg Epkes, Monica Santi, Felicia Torres, and Kate Swindell.

After Red Ball and other fundraising to date, the Foundation has raised approximately $220,000 this year. Congratulations to the Ainsworth community for completing our auction so successfully in what is certainly an economically challenging year!

Our target for the Foundation contribution for the upcoming 2009-2010 year is $262,000. At that level we hope to be able to maintain all existing programs and positions at Ainsworth. So as you can see, we are well underway in our fundraising for this year but need to fill the gap in the next months. Thanks for your continuing help as we focus on raising our remaining $42,000. We are close to the finish line but will need your help to keep Ainsworth’s level of excellence high!

With warmest regards,

Christine Carr and Anne Rohosy