WEDNESDAY PARENT NEWSLETTER 11.16.22

“I hereby command you: Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9)

In this week’s news you’ll find info about the Fall Open House, playground angels link for November and December here, pizza lunch on Monday, Whatcom Health Department News, the Christmas Bazaar, gathering used books, classroom projects for the auction, honoring Mr. Ham Hayes for his generosity to Assumption, a PTC Movie night November 18th, Grandparents Day activities, Annual Fund updates, the Christmas Art Contest is due soon, our girls’ basketball schedule, the Winter Ride and Archery co-curricular programs coming soon, 3rd grade Halloween candy donations, Missoula Children’s Theatre is happening in spring, food needed for our “Human Food Chain” to the Hope House, the Parent Satisfaction Survey is here and more upcoming calendar events, along with the “Saint of the Week”. Thanks for reading!

 

Fall Open House 

On Sunday, November 20^th, from 11:30 to 1:30pm, we will host an Open House with an emphasis on our preschool and kindergarten programs. This one is much more low-key than our Spring event, but current Assumption families are welcome, and we encourage you to share the information with your friends and family who may be interested. (Please disregard the 11:00 am start time on the calendar- thank you!) 

Development Update 

Once again, our Assumption community is showing up to support our mission and the children entrusted to our care! We are just about halfway to our Annual Fund goal of $120,000. I’m so grateful to everyone who has given any amount. It’s amazing what we can do when our community comes together! 

As current school families, every one of us is benefiting from the Annual Fund right now in the tuition rate we pay. The tuition Assumption charges is less than the full cost of running the school, which has big benefits: 

• More families are able to afford an ACS education. 
• Fundraising enables families topay what they can(plus, all donations are tax-deductible). 

Help us spread Christ’s love in the world by making an Assumption education accessible to more children!  

Click here for online giving 

OR 

Use the remittance envelope enclosed in the Annual Fund kickoff letter or simply send a check via your Wednesday envelope made out to Assumption School with “Annual Fund” noted.  

THANK YOU FOR YOUR GENEROSITY AND SUPPORT, 

Dayna 

IMAGEine MySelf Photography and Mr. Ham Hayes  

Five years ago, Mrs. Gottschalk invited Ham Hayes, Gloria Harrison, and Doug Banner to connect their non-profit IMAGine MySelf Photography with Assumption students to learn more and have a love for the world through the lens of a camera. They helped create lessons and work with students to create their own photography for local displays. This eventually evolved into a photography elective for 7^th and 8^th graders, run by Karen Evans and supported by Mr. Hayes and Mr. Banner. A great benefit (in addition to their partnership and expertise) was the use of eleven digital cameras belonging to their non-profit. 

Mr. Hayes and his wife, Gloria, were also the reason that Assumption School partnered with the Bellingham Community School in Cambodia. Mrs. VonFeldt and Mrs. Gottschalk, along other Assumption and Bellingham community members, traveled with Assumption students and parents to the school in rural Cambodia twice in 2006 and 2011 to officially open the school. Liberty Sponek, a teacher at the time, started a school garden to support the sponsorship of the school in Cambodia. Ham was the inspiration for the school’s involvement with the school in Cambodia.  

Sadly, Mr. Hayes died two weeks ago, and we grieve the gift he was to the world with his generous spirit and the blessing he was to the students and staff at Assumption. With Mr. Hayes’ death, IMAGEine MySelf is being dissolved as a non-profit. Consequently, Mr. Banner and Mrs. Harrison have graciously offered to donate the eleven cameras and all assets of the non-profit to be donated to Assumption Catholic School for the continuation of our photography program. We are so grateful for this generous gift and for all that has been given to the school through this wonderful partnership. The school will honor Ham’s memory and the work of IMAGine MySelf with a plaque, located in the entryway of the school. 

Click here to read the obituary for Mr. Hayes and find out more about his life. Click Here

Growing Great Kids Auction 

Classroom projects are a big fundraiser for the auction!  The classroom parents will be organizing these wonderful projects but will need your help. Preschool parents look for a flyer about what is happening for your child and how they will participate in the auction!  

Auction Timeline  

Class Project $10 Donations due November 18^th 

Gala Tickets Go on Sale early January 2023 

$200 Family Obligation due January 27th, 2023 

If you have any questions for the auction team, please email them to GrowingGreatkidsAuction@gmail.com  Thank you!  Lisa Twining and Torry Dechert 

Use the link here if you need another procurement form:   Procurement Form Here   

Co-curricular Programs 

Winter Ride is almost here!! 

Miss McIntosh is hosting a mandatory parent zoom meeting for Middle School parents (6,7,8^th grades) on Thursday November 17^th at 7pm.  

Please have your packet of information and any questions you may have ready! We ask that at least one parent is on the zoom call per family. Here is the link for you to access our meeting.  

Join Zoom Meeting 

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89311775528?pwd=cG5KNU9HZjFlejQ2QXJTMld1RkZ5Zz09

Meeting ID: 893 1177 5528 
Passcode: ACS 

Girls’ Basketball Season 

All games begin at 4pm and the second game is at 5:15pm.  

Thanks for supporting our girls’ basketball teams.  Come to the home games if you can!  

Season Schedule is Here:  

• November 16: Nooksack Valley at Assumption  
• November 18: Assumption at Franklin 
• November 21: Assumption at Lynden 
• November 28: Assumption at Horizon 
• November 30: Assumption at Blaine 7A 
•                              Assumption at Lynden 7B 
• December 1: Lynden at Assumption  
• December 5: Mount Baker at Assumption  
• December 9: Lynden Christian at Assumption 

For Boys:     The season for the boys will be 11/28 – 1/27. Practices will start the Monday after Thanksgiving break.  Please make sure to get your physical form in to Mrs. Angie King. 

Archery Club 

Archery is a super fun sport that also teaches great life skills like patience, teamwork, and focus. We look forward to an awesome season with your children! 

PTC News 

The Book Fair is Thursday, Friday, and Monday!  

If you have any questions, please contact Nancy Smith at nsmith@assumption.school 

Click to volunteer: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0449AAAC29A4FB6-2019 

Movie Night 

Movie Night is also this Friday, November18. Gym doors open at 6:00pm and the movie The Bad Guys starts at 6:30pm. Concessions will be available. Have your little ones bring pillows and sleeping bags to get cozy with their friends.   

And if you can help, please see the sign-up genius: https://m.signupgenius.com/#!/showSignUp/10c0d4ca5aa23a1fec25-movie 

Christmas Bazaar News  

We are at vendor capacity for this year’s PTC Christmas Bazaar, December 4th 9am-3pm!    

There are a variety of tables this year from handmade jewelry and rosaries to butterscotch, soaps, photography and fused glass!  Perfect Christmas gifts for teachers, friends, family, secret santa, grandparents and more!  Plus, our bake sale and used book sale are an extra bonus with all the proceeds going back to the PTC!   

See our flyer HERE!  

Lots of fundraising volunteer opportunities are still available. 

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0d4ca5aa23a1fec25-christmas

If you have questions, please email:  BazaarACS@gmail.com 

 Remember Book Donations Deadline is Monday!                                      

 Donation boxes will be at 3 convenient locations through November 21, 2022!   

-Assumption School entryway 

-Assumption Church  

-Sacred Heart Parish Office 

Missoula Children’s Theater will be back at Assumption this spring! 

Mark your calendars for the week of May 1st, 2023, for the production of Rumpelstiltskin.  We are looking for ONE volunteer to assist the theater company in organizing the events for that week, plus TWO hosts to provide housing for the MCT crew members. Please contact Tia Entrikin at duttontia@gmail.com to sign up for those vital volunteer opportunities. 

More Playground Angels Needed! 

Thank you for your help in keeping recess fun and safe!  

November sign up link 

December sign up link 

GRANDPARENTS’ DAY 

Please email Tia Entrikin if you can assist with the celebration. duttontia@gmail.com  

Please see the following link too. 

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/9040544AFAF22A2FF2-grandparents

General Meeting  

In case you missed our general meeting last month please see the minutes here. https://drive.google.com/file/d/18tbSfTSMUVOZX6kvKUAgzW7nFqD33R7J/view?usp=share_link 

Shop for Schools 

Help out Assumption December 4-10, 2022. Consider shopping local this Christmas and help Assumption Catholic School. Launching Success Learning Store is offering a 10% reward to the school for all purchases in store or online. See the Link Here for more information.   Just mention Assumption Catholic School.   

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

Bring in Food for Hope House!! 

 

Christmas Art Contest 

Attention Artists!  Every year our school sends out Christmas Cards to our families and donors that support our school in so many ways.  Please see the entry form in today’s Wednesday envelope for more details.   

All entries are due November 22, 2022!  No late entries will be accepted.  Thank you and good luck.  

Assumption Parent Satisfaction Survey 2022 

Each year, we ask Assumption School families to fill out a parent satisfaction survey so that we can solicit valuable feedback and improve our programs and systems. This year we have switched platforms from Survey Monkey to Microsoft Forms so the formatting may be a little different than previous years. If you are doing this on your phone, please note that for each academic subject rating you’ll need to use the drop-down arrow to expand each subject after the first one (math).  

It should take no more than ten minutes to complete, and we ask that you have this done no later than Friday, November 25th. If you have children in the preschool AND K-8 programs, you only need to fill out the K-8 survey. If you only have a preschool/pre-K student, please fill out the preschool survey. Thank you! 
Preschool Satisfaction Survey 2022 https://forms.office.com/r/XWAMcBQbRk

K-8 Satisfaction Survey 2022 https://forms.office.com/r/hCAWC3p1Ln 

PIZZA LUNCH COMING MONDAY

Halloween Candy Donations

Do your children have a surplus of Halloween Candy this year?  Well, third grade would love to collect any portion of that for their service project (care packages for service men/women).  All donations can be brought to the front lobby where there will be a collection basket.  Thank you! 

Gifts for teachers at Christmas 

In the past, parents were able to purchase Scrip for teachers at Christmas using a form that we’d send out in late November. Parents would designate an amount per teacher or staff member, and the person would then choose how to receive Scrip gift cards at their favorite stores. This past year, we were told that we are no longer able to provide that service. Since gift cards are considered like cash, if the school runs this program through the office, it is considered taxable income. Therefore, if parents would like to provide gifts for teachers it cannot be done through the school office moving forward. We know how appreciative you are of their hard work and how Christmas is a nice time to share this recognition, so we apologize for this change in the process moving forward. 

Wreath and Poinsettia Pick Up Information 

Tuition Structure for 2023-2024 and Re-enrollment 

This week’s envelope will have a re-enrollment intent form to complete with your plans for the 2023-2024 school year. It will also include a letter from Fr. Moore which shows a breakdown of the scholarships and assistance that your family has received this year. Starting in 2023-2024, all families will begin with the “cost to educate” amount and then see how this is deducted to arrive at the actual tuition paid. This will help demonstrate the individual benefits you receive from the PTC, School Foundation, and parishes (Catholic families only). More information will be coming during enrollment season in January. 

 

Walking in Holiness With the Saints 

We hope that you will enjoy learning about how saints are a great example of holiness, strength, and courage one day at a time. Below is a description of a saint but their name is withheld. See if you can guess who the saint is and get your name put in for a prize drawing.  See Mrs. King in the office if you have a guess. 

Last week: St. Katherine Drexel 

No winner this week. 

New Saint:  This “Great” man was a philosopher, scientist, theologian, spiritual writer, diplomat and teacher.  He became a bishop, and the Catholic Church distinguishes him as one of the 37 Doctors of the church.  One of his students was also a saint, St. Thomas Aquinas.  This saint is the patron of scientists. He was a twelfth century German Dominican friar and is credited with the discovery of arsenic and experimented with photo sensitive chemicals including silver nitrate.  He died in 1280 at the age of 80-85.  No one has a record of his birthday.  

Who is this saint?  ________________ 

Family Advent Event in the Gym This Weekend  
Sunday, Nov. 20, following the 10:00 a.m. Mass. Please join Assumption parish’s Whole Family Catechesis community for a social time to gather and make some Advent-themed items for your home as well as play a little Advent bingo. 

Also, please support our local chapter of Catholic Daughters at their annual bake sale, which also takes place in the gym after all English Masses this weekend (cash and checks only). Thank you! 

Care and Concern Ministry 

Please continue to pray for: 

•  all those suffering with respiratory illnesses in our school and parish communities  

• all newborn babies and their families, as well as families expecting at this time 
• all the souls in purgatory (below is the prayer to St.Gertrude)  

St. Gertrude prayer 

Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Most Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the Masses said throughout the world today, for all the Holy Souls in Purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the universal Church, for those in my own home and in my family. Amen. 

Whatcom Co. Health Department News 

We have been informed by the health department that our county (and all of WA) is experiencing an early and severe season of respiratory viruses, including RSV, Rhinovirus, Flu A, and Pertussis (infection). They attribute this to the first Fall season without the mitigating strategies we had in place for COVID. While the elderly were most at risk for severe disease with COVID, it’s our youngest who are most vulnerable to this group of viruses as they have no accumulated immunity. Pediatric hospital beds are filling up statewide with new cases.  

We’re hoping to have a letter to share with you from the DOH in next week’s news providing more comprehensive advice. For now, we want to remind you of some core strategies to prevent the spread of illness: 

• Stay home when sick 
• Children should remain at home until they are fever-free for at least 24 hours. 
• If your child exhibits shortness of breath, wheezing, or dehydration, seek care right away. 
• Wash hands often and keep high touch surfaces clean. 

As always, please don’t hesitate to email attendance@assumption.school if you have any questions or are in doubt about your child’s school readiness. We pray for your family’s continued good health and the speedy recovery of those who are ill. Thank you! 

 

New Movie Out “The Letter” 

The Assumption Creation Care Ministry invites you to view the inspiring film 

“The Letter: A Message for Our Earth”. Released October 4th, the Feast Day of St. Francis, 

“The Letter” follows climate activists from the Brazilian Amazon, India, Senegal, and the United States as they each journey to Rome to share their personal stories and actions with the Pope. The film explores issues that include Indigenous rights, climate migration, and youth leadership in the context of action on climate and nature. The film is available free as a YouTube Original. Considering watching with family, friends, and neighbors. Share the message. Commit to prayer and action to protect our common home.  See flyer Here. 

The film was produced by the Laudato Si Movement in tandem with Off the Fence.  

Watch Free on YouTube Originals 

Watch – The letter (theletterfilm.org) 

Upcoming calendar items:  

November 17^th, 18^th, and 21^st – Book Fair 

November 18^th – Grandparents’ Day and Mass at 10:30am 

November 21^st – All School “Human Food Chain” starting at 8:15

November 23^rd– Early Release 11:45am (A day) No EDP  

November 24-25^th – Thanksgiving Break  

November 25^th – Parent Satisfaction Surveys Due 

November 28^th – Principal’s Coffee Time @ 8:10 in the library 

November 29^th– “Giving Tuesday”- more to come via social media 

December 1^st and 2^nd – Wreath and Poinsettia Pick up 

December 15^th – Christmas Program 7pm