Friends of Alice Birney Elementary

Please include child’s name and room number (in the “Add Special Instructions to the Seller” box) when using paypal to donate.

“Because the teachers don’t give up, we never give up on ourselves.
We have empathy so we care for others.”   -Student at Alice Birney Elementary

Healthy schools are the backbone of healthy communities; they bring higher property values, new families, and a sense of pride to the neighborhood. Your neighborhood school is Alice Birney Elementary. Birney has experienced a dramatic turnaround over the past decade due in large part to our International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum. Our IB program helped double our enrollment, achieve excellent test scores, and attract students and families from outside our district. (Many of these families must join an enrollment waiting list.) But severe budget cuts threaten Birney’s ability to offer classes which are integral to our International Baccalaureate accreditation.

On Friday, March 15, 2013, Birney students will hold our 6th annual Jog-a-thon. Our goal is to raise $35,000 to support Spanish, Art, Library and Garden programs. But we can’t do it alone! Would you please help support your local neighborhood school by donating cash or prizes to our fundraiser?

If every local merchant gave $75 we would reach our goal. Your support at any level is greatly appreciated. Thank you for making a donation to support a healthy community and a stronger future.

Corporate Sponsorship Details

What some Alice Birney Elementary students are saying about their school:

“The thing I love about Birney is garden; it helps me understand different things about nature.”

“Since I have been a Birney Bee, I have gotten stronger, smarter, and better.”

“We are grateful for the things that other people give us.”

119 Donors! $13,053 raised in 14 hours! $5,000 in matching grant for a grand total of $18,053!

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. –Margaret Mead

We are speechless. Words cannot express our gratitude or pride at the amazing generosity from our Birney friends and family. Thank you to each and every one of you for taking the time to donate to our very special school in the middle of a bustling holiday season. This is just one more reason why Birney is and continues to be such an incredible school.

The anonymous donors were thrilled by the amazing activity from Friday and the significant increase in donors from last year. As a result, they will be giving FOABE a $20 per donor grant, plus a total 20% match, for a grand total of $4990, which they will round up to $5000. This total is reflected in the numbers listed above.

Please keep reading below for messages from our fearless Principal Ms. Amanda and Laura Dadmun our Friends of Alice Birney Board President. Thank you again for your incredible support!

Message from Ms. Amanda…

Having spent the week going through teacher, parent and (most important of all) student surveys for our re-authorization application due to the IBO on 12/28, I am so gratified that the Birney extended community actually listens to the Birney students. In students’ comments about what they thought were the best characteristics of the school, their “Specials” got 4 times more votes than anything else, followed by their teachers! Fortunately for us, the district covers the expense of the teachers, so our ongoing support of the “Specials” is first on the list of needs that we have going in to the next year (still a tough budgetary year for CA, despite Prop 30). The response to the Big Give on Friday was so positive, so amazing – Birney supporters continue to show their true colors – I consider myself so fortunate to be working for such a great group of people! –Amanda

Message from Laura Dadmun…

I want to express my profound gratitude to the people who supported Birney by donating to Big Give yesterday. It is so gratifying to be part of a community that values the outstanding school that Birney is and the value that is placed on teaching the whole child. Spanish, art, music, dance, garden, a library…these aren’t “extras.” They are the things that open a child’s eyes to the world. And thanks to all of you, our kids will have those experiences at Birney. I wish you all a beautiful holiday and a healthy and wondrous new year. –Laura

The anonymous donors were thrilled by the amazing activity from yesterday and significant increase in donors from last year. As a result, they will be giving FOABE a $20 per donor grant, plus a total 20% match, for a grand total of $4990, which they will round up to $5000.

Thank you! When all was said and done, we raised $13,053 from 119 donors.

7:04 – Good Morning! The event has just started and already a couple of early birds have gotten us started. We’re starting out with $60.

7:30 – Off to a strong start: 5 donations and we’re up to $660. Add your comments below…

8:00 – That must be some really good coffee! Our total has perked up to $1760

8:35 – No Grinch’s around here! We’re all about Giving at Birney! We just broke $2000

9:30 – A donation just came in with a note saying “Thank you for all you do for our children!!” – You’re welcome and back atcha – none of this works without donations from generous folks like you! Tally stands at $2700.

10:30 – Birney Bees Big Give! Birney Bees Big Give! Birney Bees Big Give! Whew, that’s quite a tongue twister. Try saying it three times fast while making your donation. The fun just doesn’t stop around here! 28 donors have given $3,395

11:30 – For those of us with third graders, this update is in ‘expanded notation’. Our current total is 3000+900+60+0

Let’s keep this rolling – here are some of the reasons to give now…

Reason #421 to join the “Big Give” right now: Tax break next April 15!
Reason #14 to join the “Big Give” right now: Saving Spanish
Reason #123 to join the “Big Give” right now: Your generosity is multiplied by an anonymous match!
Reason #19 to join the “Big Give” right now: The giddy sense of satisfaction you get from helping out
Reason #204 to join the “Big Give” right now: Coach Lord knows where you live.

12:00 – Is this the lunch rush??? Our total just shot up to $5,280!!! One of those donations came with this note: “I have two happy students at Birney. We love our school. Happy Holidays!” We love it too – thanks for your generous donation!

1:00 – Soooooo close to half way at half time. We’ve had 50 donors contribute $6,995 so far.

1:30 – Word on the street is Birney rocks (and by street I mean the entire city of San Diego)! Just passed the $8,000 mark

2:30 – Afternoon lull… $8168

4:30 – 2 and a half hours left – how much can we do? We’re just over $8800 from 72 donors now… can we find 22 more people and beat our donor count from last year?

5:30 – We’re really close to breaking 10K – $9,888 and counting

5:45 – $10,658 from 84 donors

6:30 – Can hardly keep up – like drinking from the firehose – but that’s ok – keep it coming…. 92 donors for $11,068 only 2 more donors needed to break last year’s count

6:37 – Another note from a donor – “We love our school and we’re so grateful for all of the wonderful ‘Specials’. I so wish I could donate more. These programs are really wonderful.” Your sentiments are shared by so many – with 94 donors we have now officially beaten last year’s donor count.

7:00 – Time! Put your pencils down and pass your papers to the middle…

7:19 – Time for Extra Credit! You can clean the chalk boards or Donate Now!! The Big Give 2012 has been extended until 9:00

8:15 – Interesting – lots of last minute types We now have 109 donors and $12,463. That means we’re only $1,538 away from beating last year’s total. Can we beat that in the 45 minutes we have left? Go for it!!

9:00 – Well, that’s a wrap. What an amazing day! Thank you to everybody who participated. It was a great turnout – far better than last year. Looks like there may still be a straggler or two in the PayPal queue, so we’ll post final totals tomorrow morning.

During last year’s Big Give we were able to raise $14,000 from 93 donors! Surely with just a little more Give we can match or exceed the number of donors this year!

Another great reason to give during this event is that we have an anonymous donor providing a matching grant. Last year our matching grant was equal to about 18% of the money we raised. This year we are expecting a match closer to 25 – 30% of what we collect.

Click on the Big Give button below and make your donation tomorrow between the hours of 7AM to 7PM .

Tomorrow’s the day! Big Give!

Give Big!

As December rapidly comes to a close, what better way to get into the spirit of the holidays than to give the gift of a donation to the students of Birney!

On Friday, December 21st Birney will be hosting our 2nd annual Big Give in an effort to raise much needed funds in order to maintain our IB program and associated specials such as Garden, Spanish, Art, and Library. Our specials are an integral part of our IB program and are what differentiates Birney from other Elementary schools. Just $1 a day per student supports all of our specials for a year. That is only $170 per year per student!

On Friday, the 21st click the link below between the hours of 7AM to 7PM and make your donation. Then continue to watch the site as donations come in to see if we meet our goal!

Our goal is to raise roughly $1000 an hour in a 12 hour period on the 21st. Help us make that goal and get your tax deductible donations in before the year ends! An anonymous donor has generously offered to supply a matching grant.

Give the children of Birney a Christmas gift that will continue to enrich their lives in the months ahead.
Big Give! Give now!

I can’t believe how fast the summer went, or that my youngest is in third grade this year.

To new parents and students, welcome to the Birney community! You are now part of a vibrant and diverse group of parents, teachers, staff and students dedicated to the personal and academic enrichment of your child. Being part of Birney’s International Baccalaureate (IB) community means you will soon be asking your kids whether they “have an IB attitude,” and whether teasing their brother or sister is “principled.” You may even find your child urging you to be a “risk taker” by taking on that new challenge at work or the gym!

To returning parents and students, welcome back! Did you miss your favorite teachers and friends over the summer? Make sure to say hello to Ms. Amanda when you see her around campus, and check in with your teacher from last year to let them know how you are taking on the challenges of your new grade level.

I am happy to report that due to our successful fundraising during giveBIG, the Run for the Green Jog-a-Thon, and the Pride Parking event, as well as many generous donations from the community, Friends of Alice Birney Elementary (the non profit foundation supporting the school) was able to fund art and music instruction, garden instruction, Spanish instruction and a part time librarian for the 2012-13 school year. None of these programs were funded by the district, and without your financial help, we would not have been able to provide them this year. Having these programs is what makes Birney a unique school that teaches to the “whole child,” nurturing both academic performance and creativity. These programs also keep our IB certification status up to date.

In addition to the fundraisers we held last year, this year we have some exciting new ways to support Birney financially. First, we now have a simple way to make a monthly donation. Did you know that if every family donated just $10 a month, we would be well on our way to supporting the Spanish, art, music and garden programs? Just click on the “Birney Monthly Donations” to the right of the screen and follow the prompts. I’ve already signed up for a monthly donation of $20. It was quick, easy and secure. Coming soon, we will have an Amazon Store Front for Birney. That means, whenever you buy something on Amazon.com, and you use Birney’s storefront, Birney gets a commission. More on that program in the coming days.

I am looking forward to another great year of friendship, learning, exploration and fun at Birney. And I look forward to meeting and working with all of you to keep Birney the special place that it is.

Laura Dadmun
Board President, Friends of Alice Birney Elementary

Kyla Calvert, education reporter with KPBS, had a story today on the probable loss of funding for the IB programs across the district. Read the whole store here.

A message from San Diego Unified…

The State Legislature is now busy considering legislation that will impact our schools and public education funding. AB 2434, by Assemblyman Marty Block, is an important bill that provides budget flexibility for school districts with the use of local real estate revenues. This bill will help school districts like San Diego Unified to balance our budget during these difficult economic times. AB 2434 will give your elected school board local decision making authority over real estate revenues to decide how these revenues are used to serve students.

The San Diego Unified School District has just launched the Education Issues Action Center to give supporters of public education an easy online way to contact their elected representatives to express their opinions about school funding and other issues.

To learn more about AB 2434 and make your voice heard, please visit the Action Center now. Just enter your zip code and you will be able to send a letter to your representatives about this important legislation.

While you are at the Action Center, you will also be able to sign a petition supporting public education and you can also enter your zip code to find your representatives and send a letter to express your support for adequate school funding from the state.

Visit the Action Center today, sign up for updates and share it with a friend. You can also spread the word and share the Action Center on Facebook and Twitter!

Thanks for your support for our students and our schools.