Rooftop Run

There are two big fund raisers at Rooftop: the Rooftop Auction in the spring, and the Rooftop Run in the fall. The Run is styled like a walk-a-thon, where friends, relatives and co-workers sponsor our students as they jog around a quarter mile track. Everyone is welcome to run, including family, relatives and friends. The principal and teachers make their way around the track too! The Run is much more then a fundraiser – it’s a fun, family day too! After the running, we gather at center field and the entire school shares a potluck picnic. The Run is a perfect day to meet new friends and see old friends!

Each student or family asks sponsors to donate money for the Run. Sponsors may be friends, relatives or co-workers. Or, the family may sponsor its student. Sponsors may donate either a flat amount or “per lap;” in the latter case the total donation is based upon the number of laps the student runs. For example, if Uncle Lou donates $3 a lap for student Charlie, and Charlie runs 20 laps, then Charlie has raised $60 for Rooftop. Donations collected on a per lap basis are due exactly two weeks after the Run. All families are responsible for collecting donations from their sponsors. To download a “Sample Sponsor Letter” and “Pledge Form” please go to the Run Packet page; these forms are also provided in the paper Run Packet sent home in children’s backpacks in September.

Proceeds from the Run provide a significant portion of the Rooftop PTA budget. The PTA funds many programs that make Rooftop special, including the full time art teacher at Mayeda campus, the libraries and librarians at both campuses, books and computers, etc. The PTA also funds the classroom visual arts and Art Coordinators at Burnett campus, as well as performing arts at both campuses. The PTA also pays for Burnett’s science in-the-garden project/teacher and the Sensory Motor program/teacher. The PTA makes periodic capital improvements to the school such as Burnett’s outdoor picnic benches and landscape trees and bushes in the play yard during the 2006-07 year. Other improvements include a long overdue garden upgrade that included new benches in the amphitheater, a new retaining wall and a much needed water system installed during the 2007-08 school year.

Tell your sponsors that federal and state funding is so small that schools have to raise money themselves to pay for basic things like books, a library, an art program and computers.

The family goal is $300. With each family doings its best, last year we raised over $60,000. We need to match that amount this year so that our PTA budget remains intact. Rooftop knows that some years families have their own financial burdens and difficulties. Some years families do not. We ask that you simply do your best to help the school.

Start at the Registration tables. Register your child at the appropriate GRADE table. Registration is between 11:00 and 11:45. Be on time to register, since the running waits for no one. Next, find your grade picnic table at center field to drop off your dish. Listen for announcements of the “race” start. Running starts at 12:00 and ends at 1:00. The picnic starts at 1:00 No eating early off the potluck tables!