In this week’s news, you’ll find the day to wear your Christmas colors, an invitation to a very special Nativity Play, how to support families in need, PTC news including gratitude for the success of the Take & Bake, a volunteer opportunity that supports ACS athletics, auction news and jobs available, thoughts on celebrating the fourth Sunday of Advent, thanks to all who made our annual Christmas Program possible and links to view the performances, a last chance to provide feedback via the parent survey, an Annual Fund update, how our school is supporting members of our community impacted by flooding, planning for our return to recess in January, an informational session to learn about the five United States Service Academies and ROTC programs, this Friday’s School Mass schedule, and upcoming calendar items. Thanks for reading!
Red & Green Day
Thursday, December 16th, we’ll celebrate our Christmas spirit with Red & Green Day! Have fun dressing in these colors while following Free Dress guidelines.
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PREPARES
PREPARES works with low-income mothers and fathers in need. We are now serving 20 families. We are a nurturing response of the Catholic Community in Washington state, open to all, to provide meaningful, local and sustainable support to mothers, fathers, and families as they nurture their children from pregnancy through the child’s fifth-birthday.
PREPARES is asking for donations to help buy Christmas gift cards for the PREPARES children. We’ll send the gift cards to the parents and the parents will be able to buy a Christmas gift for their child or children. Please send a donation in the amount of $25.00. Make your donation to Assumption Church, making sure to note the donation is for the PREPARES ministry.
(If you put a check in your Wednesday Envelope for PREPARES, the school will make sure the donation gets to the parish office.)
PTC News
Huge thanks to the volunteers and supporters who made last week’s Take and Bake a great success! We raised over $3,000 for the PTC and made 120 pot pies!
Mark your calendars for the next PTC General Meeting on Wednesday, January 26th. Childcare will be provided for up to 25 students with parents attending. Litzia, the local company that provides our school technology support, will present information on cyber security.
Volunteer Opportunity
WE STILL NEED VOLUNTEERS to referee or do the scorebook. Calling all Assumption parents! The boys’ basketball season is here with our first home game happening this week. We’ve had enough boys sign up this year to field two teams which is very exciting. That said, we need help from our generous parents. There is a shortage of referees this year so if any of you have basketball experience with coaching, playing, or as a referee we are looking for help. We are also looking for volunteers to help run the electronic scoreboard and keep stats in the paper scoresheet. Below is a SignUpGenius link.
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090B49AFA723A7FB6-basketball
Please don’t forget to return your donation for classroom auction projects. Our room parents are busy putting together amazing auction packages and need to know their budget. Return those small, pre-labeled envelopes ASAP!
Just a reminder that procurement of items and sponsorships for our auction continues. All items and sponsorships are due by January 22. Please visit the auction page on our school website for extra forms. https://school.assumption.org/auction/
It takes many hands and talents to make all the planning come together for this incredibly important event! Below is a link to sign up for auction volunteer opportunities that all count toward fundraising volunteer hours. We hope you’ll join the team to help make it a wild success! Please note that the clean up crew will earn 2 volunteer hours for every 1 hour worked! If you already signed up for a volunteer role on the first day of school, you do not need to sign up again.
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0c4da9af23a5f49-growing
If you are looking for ways to earn volunteer hours from home… here is your opportunity! We need wine to serve at the auction. In fact, we need A LOT of wine! You can earn 1 hour of fundraising volunteer time for each bottle of donated wine valued at $15 or greater. Each family is limited to donating 12 bottles of wine at this time. Please provide a copy of your receipt when you drop off the wine at the office.
The auction chairs are also in need of 30 oblong black tablecloths measuring 90 x 132. If you own a business or know someone who owns a business that has access to this type of linen, please reach out to the auction co-chairs at growinggreatkidsauction@gmail.com. We would love to chat!
Fourth Sunday of Advent
This Sunday, December 19th, marks the fourth Sunday of Advent and its purple candle represents “peace”. In accepting God’s calling to be the mother of Jesus, Mary’s openness allowed God to work through her so that salvation and peace might come to everyone. Because of this, Mary is a model and symbol of the Church. May we be like Mary, open and cooperative in God’s plan for salvation.
Christmas Program watch party on December 16th at 7 pm
It’s finally here! Your children and their teachers put in a considerable amount of work on the Christmas Program and it was all hands on deck without Mrs. Liza Beshara here for her music classes. A huge thank you goes to Mrs. Eusebio and the eighth-grade class for the script; Dr. Mabalot and Mrs. Roland for the rehearsals and recording; and to all of the teachers for their flexibility on this project. Please join us for a virtual watch party on Thursday night, December 16th at 7 pm.
Kindergarten through Eighth-Grade Christmas Program Assumption Christmas Program 2021.mp4
Pre-Kindergarten Christmas Program Assumption Catholic School Pre Kindergarten Christmas Play 2021
Parent Satisfaction Survey 2021
This survey deadline was extended through December 20th. This is important feedback and we use it to modify or adjust our long-term planning and to make short-term changes as needed. We typically receive 60-65 responses from the school community which is about half of our families and so far, 32 families have responded. Please help us reach a goal of a 70% return this year by filling out the survey this week. Thank you for your help. The survey results will be collated and summarized for families in mid-January. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Assumption2021
Development News
This is the week!! All Annual Fund contributions from school families will be matched dollar for dollar up to $5,000. Don’t miss this chance to make your donation count for double. We are at 26% school family participation and 71% faculty & staff participation. If you love our school, this is a great way to show your support with a gift or pledge of any size. We would like to show those outside our community that our current families believe in our mission through their willingness to take part in this yearly campaign that is vital to our success. THANK YOU!
Tuition Assistance for 2022-2023
The portal is now open in FACTS for those wanting to apply for tuition assistance in the 2022-2023 school year. Applications must be completed by January 7, 2022 to receive Fulcrum Foundation assistance, but Assumption will be accepting applications past that date. If you think you might qualify for Fulcrum assistance, please complete the application by January 7. To learn more, you can visit their FAQ page on the Fulcrum website HERE.
Volunteers needed for Variety Show on Friday, February 4th
We want to give students a chance to show off their talents, but we don’t have a coordinator for this. If you think that your child may be performing and you want to get your volunteer hours, please email theoffice@school.assumption.org to sign up to coordinate this fun event. The Variety Show Coordinator includes sending out the registration forms and scheduling auditions in December; scheduling rehearsals in January; checking costumes and appropriateness of the music/lyrics; and organizing the event itself on February 4th (This date may change to the Friday before depending on the availability of the gym). There will be a dress rehearsal in the afternoon and an evening performance starting at 7 pm that evening. Thank you, in advance, for your help! (Note: The Variety Show Coordinator will need to show proof of vaccination.)
Whatcom County Flood Relief
We’ve been trying to decide as a school how to support the flood relief efforts in Ferndale, Sumas, and Everson. The school is doing two things:
- In lieu of a Giving Tree this year, we are adopting the second-grade classes at Sumas Elementary by providing holiday-themed books throughout the remainder of the school year. There are two bins on each floor of the school- red and green. If you want to donate any Christmas-themed books for December to replenish what Sumas Elementary lost in the floods, please see the link below.
- Sumas Book Donations– Please open the shared document and decide which book(s) to purchase. You can have them shipped directly to Assumption Catholic School, but please put a gift message that this is for Sumas Elementary teachers. Or you can purchase the books and deliver them to the school. If you’d like to make a donation, instead, please make the check payable to Assumption Catholic School and put “Sumas Book List” in the memo. Once you have purchased the book, please delete it from this list so that someone else doesn’t buy it. Thank you! https://assumptionorg-my.sharepoint.com/:w:/g/personal/danderson_school_assumption_org/ERny_RSLM15JntsehCht8TMB_Aa0-W8h9OqvqKdOhDbrRw?e=ljgLFD
- Mr. Anderson is coordinating an Assumption work party on Saturday, January 8th with Samaritan’s Purse. If you are interested in being part, please email Shannon Zebrowski at szebrowski@school.assumption.org (ages 14 and up).
Care & Concern Ministry
A meal train has been set up to support the Smith Family: Emma, Jason, Micah [8th], Arianna, Isabella [3rd], and Benjamin [PreK]) as Emma transitions into bedrest, awaiting the arrival of Baby Liam at the end of January. Your gift of a meal will be greatly appreciated!
https://www.mealtrain.com/trains/mqq289?intro=true
Rite of Christian Burial- Trisha Lewis
Fr. Scott Connolly would like Assumption School families to know that he will be celebrating the Mass of Christian Burial for Trisha Lewis on Tuesday, December 21, 2021 at 10:30am. Trisha Lewis was an alumni parent who’s last of her four children graduated from Assumption in June 2020. Mrs. Lewis died from cancer in the spring of 2020, and the family is inviting all those who knew her to remember her at the Church of the Assumption on this day during Christmas break.
Playground Angels
We’re now prepping for our return starting January 3rd! Angels help keep our students safe on the playground, which we are so grateful for. Thank you in advance for your help!
Middle School Informational Meeting
This is a free virtual event for parish and school families interested in learning more about the five United States Service Academies and/or ROTC programming.
It will feature Catholic school alumni from each of the Academies and ROTC programs, sharing experiences and wisdom they have learned along the way.
The plan is to have a short program (prayer & welcome by Fr. Justin Ryan, Director of Vocations for the Archdiocese of Seattle) as a whole group, and then participants are invited to join breakout rooms where they will interact with the young men and women who represent the different programs. They will introduce themselves, share their stories, and then open the floor for questions.
The date is Tuesday, December 21st from 7-8 pm on ZOOM.
Participants must register in advance for the event. Click HERE to register.
School Mass this Friday
This Friday, December 17th, the 2nd-5th grades will go to the church or gym for Mass with our teachers leading. All grades should wear dress uniforms. Parents and community members are welcome to attend. We ask that visitors sit in the north and south transepts instead of with the students. Masks are required of everyone, regardless of vaccination status.
Upcoming calendar items:
December 16th– Red & Green Day!
December 17th– Early Release for break (11:45 am dismissal), NO EDP today
December 20th – December 31st– Christmas Break
January 3rd– Welcome back!
January 7th– Tuition assistance applications due in FACTS for the 2022-2023 school year
January 8th– Assumption work party in Sumas for flood relief (Ages 14+)
January 26th– PTC General Meeting, Childcare provided
