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IMPACT NEWSLETTER

October 2022

President's Message

Check out the video below from the PPS Foundation President, Cindy Morris!

Principal for a Day Experience

Participating in our Principal for a Day gives leaders from the Peoria community an unique opportunity to spend a few hours shadowing a Peoria Public School principal to see their day-to-day school operations. This experience allows community members to build relationships with the principals and other administrators in our public schools and experience first-hand what it’s like to be a PPS school principal.

Our most recent Principal for a Day was held on September 20th. We were so excited to have Dr. Rita Ali, Peoria Mayor, at Manual High School; Mark Roberts, President and CEO of the Community Foundation of Central Illinois, at Franklin Primary School; and Maestro George Stelluto, Music Director of the Peoria Symphony Orchestra, at Trewyn K-8 School. Click HERE to see pictures of our most recent Principal for a Day experience!

Horizons Club FUN!

The Horizons Club middle school career program is off to a fun fall start this year. More than 800 students from across the district meet each week to explore more about possible careers, learn more goal setting strategies, and discover more about themselves.

But for Horizons to be the most impactful, WE NEED YOU to volunteer to share your career story with our students. We welcome all types of careers for this important volunteer opportunity. Click the button below to sign up to speak today!

For more information on sharing your career story by speaking at one of our Horizons Clubs or See it Be it classrooms, please contact our Career Program Coordinator, Jaleesha Allen, at jaleesha.allen@psd150.org.

Adopt-A-School Program Partner Highlight:

A BIG thank you to the following partners!

Friends of Rocky Glen has adopted Harold B. Dawson Middle School’s butterfly garden and is working to bring some of that nature education into the classrooms across other district schools, such as Dr. Maude A. Sanders Primary School and Whittier Primary School.

Peoria Nazarene Church has adopted Dr. Maude Sanders and are working very hard to provide support to their staff and students in so many different ways. They are working with Maude to purchase a washer and dryer, supporting the PTO with popcorn days and their Trunk or Treat event. The church members have been so wonderful to jump in and help where they can!

Peoria Medical Society Alliance has adopted the Glen Oak Little Free Pantry, providing $300 per month to restock the pantry and support the students and the community they serve. Thank you to Darlene Violet for making this happen.

Grace Presbyterian Church has adopted Lincoln K-8 Little Free Pantry and has been so supportive in helping the school keep the pantry stocked. Thank you to Mr. Randy Whitman for his support!

First Ascent provided the PPS Foundation with school supplies that were donated to Lincoln K-8.

Anytime Fitness provided an abundance of food pantry items that were distributed to two of our schools that currently do not have Little Free Pantry partners: Dr. Maude A. Sanders Primary School and Elise Ford Allen Academy.

Please feel free to contact our Adopt-A-School Coordinator, Janet Ham, if you are interested in partnering with a school to sponsor a Little Free Pantry, provide Snack Packs, mentor students, or explore other opportunities to get involved. Janet can be emailed at janet.ham@psd150.org.

More Ways to Support the PPS Foundation!

We are excited to once again partner with the Kiwanis Club of South-West Peoria for their annual fundraiser. To help support both our organizations, please place an order today! Order forms can be printed from the button below. Once completed, mail order form and payment to the PPS Foundation's office. Feel free to e-mail jennifer.adler@psd150.org with any questions.

CLICK HERE FOR THE CHEESE SALE ORDER FORM

WE ALSO TAKE ONLINE DONATIONS!

Click the picture below to donate.

All proceeds from the sign advertisement go directly to help Peoria Public School's campaign to improve the stadium property. Feel free to reach out to Jen Adler at jennifer.adler@psd150.org for more information on pricing, artwork or any other questions!

365 Breakfast Sponsorship Opportunity!

A Big Welcome to the PPS Foundation's Board of Directors New Member, Kim McGhee!

We are so excited to welcome Kim McGhee to our Board of Directors! Kim is a proud PPS (Richwoods) alum and currently works at UnityPoint as a Manager of Health Information Management. She is involved in several community boards and commissions in our community, including: ICC Health Information Technology Advisory Board, City of Peoria Downtown Advisory Commission, and City of Peoria CDBG Public Service Advisory Commission. Kim actively supports and volunteers throughout the city for various organizations and events. She received the 40 under 40 award in 2019. She was also involved with our subcommittee for the Adopt-A-School program a few years ago. Kim has twins that will be two in October. She enjoys spending time with them and finding new activities for them every week. We recently chatted with Kim and asked her a few questions to get to get to know her better. Read on below!

Hi Kim, thanks for chatting with us today! Can you tell us what you like best about living in the Peoria area?

Sure! I like the size of the city. It’s not too big or small. I can easily navigate the city and get anywhere within 10-15 minutes.

Yes! That is a very nice part of living in Peoria! What do you like to do on weekends?

My favorite thing to do on the weekends is creating memories with my twins at fun local events. Whether it’s a carnival or going to the Peoria Zoo, I enjoy exposing them to the world around us.

Peoria definitely has a lot of fun events that I'm sure your kids love! What's something that's made you smile recently?

I'd say watching the joy and excitement my twins have when they say the alphabet and count to 10.

That's wonderful! Ok, now on to some hard questions - if you could only have three apps on your smartphone, which ones would you pick?

Instagram, Apple Music, and WordStack!

How about if you could snap your fingers and immediately learn to do anything, what would it be?

I would learn multiple foreign languages (Spanish, French, and Mandarin).

Thank you again, Kim, for chatting with us. We are so excited to have you as part of the PPS Foundation Board of Directors!

Congratulations to Casey Ahmad for being chosen as our October HERO of the month! Casey is the school counselor at Sterling Middle School. She has been one of the strongest school advocates for her students and is always looking for resources and ways to support them. These students may need supplemental food, clothing, transportation, or school supplies, and Casey does a fantastic job by going above and beyond to make sure they get what they need to help them. She is a true hero with a big heart. Congrats and thank you for all you do, Casey!

Check Out Buzz Chats: a PPS Foundation Video Series!

Join us for a new Buzz Chats this coming up Wednesday, October 12th at 6 PM! Cindy will be chatting with Marta Vidal (owner of Cafe Santa Rosa), Kelly Popadziuk (owner of CxT Roasting Company), and Harreld Webster Jr. (owner of MadMac's Coffee).

Each month we will be connecting with different members of our community to talk about our public schools and how they interact with current events in Peoria. Watch the live chat at 6pm on the second Thursday of each month on our Facebook page! We keep old episodes up on our page so scroll through to catch any you may have missed.

Thank You to our Community Partners!

We'd like to give an especially big shout out this month to Starbucks, Hy-Vee in Sheridan Village and K2 Benefits for going above and beyond to further our mission to improve the quality of education in Peoria Public Schools!