|
The parents of students, in an effort to alleviate upcoming budget deficits, held a phonathon on Dec. 10 from 6-9 p.m.
Lowell Fund chair Stephen King and a group of 14 parent volunteers met at the offices of Common Sense Media to conduct the first phonathon for the school in three years. The Lowell Fund is the Parent Teacher Student Association’s annual fundraising effort.
Over the course of three hours, the group called approximately 300 families, encouraging them to donate generously to the school. Alum Howard Chung donated Chinese food from Henry’s Hunan restaurant.
The families targeted for this first phase of the phonathon included parents of freshmen who had previously attended private or parochial schools, as well as those families who have donated in the past. “For this time around we were really focusing on parents who have contributed in the past to make sure they were able to donate before the end of the year,” King said.
The callers informed the parent community about the reasons for the budget shortfall and the need for increased donations this year. They went over the loss of $400,000 due to the recalculation of the Advanced Placement formula and explained how the Rainy Day and stimulus funds will not be available next year. Since July 1, the Lowell Fund has raised $100,000 and the results of this most recent effort, the phonathon, will be tallied over the next few weeks.
Volunteers were enthusiastic about the effort. “Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures,” parent volunteer Kamini Ramani said. “It was gratifying to see how even families of freshmen have felt the Lowell magic. I feel confident that we can rally together to strengthen the school.”
King agreed. “There was a lot of great energy and enthusiasm for helping Lowell out in these challenging financial times,” he said.
Parents had varied reactions to the calls. “The general feeling is that everyone wants to do their part and give, but some families’ realities were either stressed or downright tough for this time of year and they were hoping things were going to get better,” PTSA member Debi Skaggs said.
The parent group plans to meet early next year to organize a concentrated effort to reach out to the broader parent community in the spring. “This first phonathon was really a start and we are hoping to have another in the spring with a lot more parents and students helping out,” King said.
Volunteers agreed about the possibilities for the future. “The eagerness with which many parents responded to a call from Lowell, whether they could give then or not, made me think that there is a large reservoir of goodwill for Lowell out there that we really need to tap into,” parent volunteer Omar Khan said. “The future of the school may well hinge on properly turning this into real dollars for teachers and students.” |
