EGC to the Rescue With Art Supplies for Pierce Park

EGC to the Rescue With Art Supplies for Pierce Park
 
Always wanting to do more to enhance the community, the Rotary Club of Eagle/Garden City asked nearby Pierce Park Elementary how we could help. The school counselor suggested we purchase art supplies. Most teachers can’t afford them, and the Boise School District doesn’t provide supplemental funds for such supplies.
 
Armed with two pages of teacher requests, several club members headed to Quality Art Supply in Garden City and bought $2,600 worth of supplies for about $1,500, thanks to a club member’s 40% off discount. That’s a lot of money Pierce Park teachers don’t have to spend out of their own pockets!
 
Linda Gerber had organized the list by aisles in the store and by teacher. Gene, Linda, Dennis Creighton and Kathy Creighton then got down to the daunting work of shopping. According to Gene, “As store staff walked around with us helping to locate items, the word spread among other shoppers, and we got questions from those who were teachers about how they could request Rotary help.” In about an hour and a half, they had gathered everything at the checkout stand.
 
Although the team had originally anticipated spending between $200 and $300, they were astounded when it totaled nearly $2,600. Thanks to the 40% discount that Linda received, the bill came to just short of $1,500. That’s a lot of money that Pierce Park teachers didn’t have to spend out of their own pockets!
 
The supplies were all organized, bagged and loaded into Gene’s pickup for a Monday morning delivery to the school. Linda and Gene were joined by club member Laura Spencer to move bags into the teachers’ lounge that morning.
 
Third-grade teacher Gina Watson, who was in the lounge at the time of delivery, was so appreciative that she gave the team a tour of the new school under construction. (The new facility will be open by the 2020-2021 school year.) It is being built on the property right behind the old school. In 1911, Walter Pierce sold 1.5 acres to Ada County for use as a school. The price was $1! He also stipulated that, if the land was not used for a school, ownership would revert to the Pierce Family Trust.
 
More recently, the Boise School District decided to build a new state-of-the-art school on the land behind the current building to replace one of the oldest schools in the district. It is almost finished, so Sarah and Gina suggested planning a tour for all club members in May.
 
Earlier in the year, our club held a visioning workshop. One of the outcomes was a commitment to greater involvement with Pierce Park Elementary students and staff. Our signature annual event is the Christmas Party at which Santa hands out gifts to K-3 students selected by school staff. This project definitely opened the door for an increased relationship with Pierce Park!