Our Mission

The Eau Claire Area School District (ECASD) has cut all funding for field trips in the upcoming budget. This means that children in the district will not be going on the curriculum-based field trips for which the school district has previously paid. Our group is launching a fundraiser beginning August 15, 2009. The goal is to raise approximately $70,000 that will be given to the ECASD for funding those field trips that would otherwise be eliminated this year. By achieving our goal, we will support local businesses, stimulate young minds and reinvest in the future of our community.


Monday, August 17, 2009

In the news...

8/15/09 - WEAU TV 13
Raising funds to have fun outside the classroom

Click on link for video: Raising funds to have fun outside the classroom

Sisters Maggie and Carly Sauls love being on school busses, especially if they're headed on a field trip.

Their mom Lesley, and other parents are trying to save the program in the Eau Claire Area School District. "We're making a difference by pulling together and raising $1 at a time to make sure our kids go on field trips,” says Lesley Sauls. “She's told me that she's doing this so we can have our own field trips and we can have fun," says her daughter Maggie Sauls.

The Eau Claire United PTA/PTO has raised more than $11 thousand in the past few weeks from community and business donations. "People in their 50s and 60s are saying 'I remember my field trip' and it's making a difference to everybody," says Lesley Sauls.

A check for more than $6 thousand will be presented at the next school board meeting to help cover the cost of all fifth grader's trips to Beaver Creek Reserve in September.

The third grader's trip to the Chippewa Valley Museum already has an $18 hundred donation by the Kiwanis Club for transportation costs, which could help save it this year. "It would be the first time in 30 years that it hasn't gone on, so we're really hopeful that this effort is successful," says museum director Susan McLeod.

Sauls says this year's goal of $70 thousand seems attainable, and her girls hold out hope that they'll get to experience learning in the community for years to come. "I hope we can keep doing field trips," says first-grader Carly Sauls.

For more information, or to donate to the Eau Claire United PTA/PTO, visit www.EauClaireUnitedPTA-PTO.blogspot.com

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