Parents > PDSPO > Events (Book Fair Thank-You)

Hot Diggity Dog-Another Successful Book Fair

There was an entire school-full of people who slept very well Friday night:-our children tucked into bed with an armful of new books-parent/volunteers who worked tirelessly for the last 2 ½ days and -puppy dogs at the SPCA who had full tummies due to the generosity of our PDS families. The final numbers are still coming in but it appears that nearly $10,000 of books were sold, raising about $2000 for our beloved school. But it was much more than money raised. "Community" was everywhere. Just ask our librarian Sara Feldman, who received generous donations for the library or our children's teachers who received books from their wish lists for their classrooms. Ask the 120 or so who attended the chili supper, entertained by the upper school voices of "Sidereal" and the works of guest author Suzanne Weyn. And ask the SPCA, who received an entire trunk-full of dog and cat food for the animals at the shelter. We're going to try to thank all those who were so helpful in making this book fair such a success, acknowledging that this list will need some updating:

First of all, our leaders, Liz Wilmerding and Maria LaRossa, have literally worked for months with Three Arts' owner and PDS supporter, Walter Effron, picking just the right titles, computerizing the lists, organizing the volunteers, being there day and night. We just want to send a big "thank you" to Liz and Maria, as well as their families for sharing them with us. Of course, Michele Pullman and her family fall into that same category.

Kim Urban, Susan Strauss, Darrah Cloud, MiSun Lee, Deidre Gadsby, Tiggy Friedman, Deidre Lieber, Ray Schwartz were there for set up and/or clean-up and parts in-between. So were Meg Clayton, John Plummer, Toni Houston, Melissa Misra, Barbara Heiles, Alison Insinger, Eva Rose, Margot Slade and Karine Bousquet. Elisabeth Straus once again stationed the "kid's corner", giving the little ones a place to gather, read, play and have their faces painted.

Second-year parent Nicholas Baxter manned the kitchen for a superb chili/pasta supper that served a good 30 or 40 more people than ever before. Andrea Klein, Amy Griffin, Petra Eichenseher, Linda Monkman, and Cynthia Richards fed the throngs while getting dishpan hands. We're missing a couple names of those making Maria's now-infamous vegetarian chili, but for now, thanks to Nicholas, Andrea, Amy, Cynthia, Fran McLeod and Melissa Misra for your donations. Bags and cans of dog and cat food piled up in the corner for those that wanted to feed our 4-legged friends at the SPCA in exchange for a bowl of chili. The SPCA thanks you, the animals thank you and so do we!

Special thanks to Margot Slade and Eva Rose, who served as our auditors, working tenaciously Friday afternoon to be sure all the numbers balanced. And also to Austin Wilmerding, the master of the bookshelf building, and who assisted with all aspects of the fair, from packing/transporting books, setting-up/tearing-down to helping with check-out and serving as a children's helper.

Lastly, Darrah Cloud made a most generous and thoughtful $50 donation, providing us with a "slush fund" when children were a just few cents short of being able to buy the book that they wanted. Thanks, Darrah, for creatively thinking of our children when a book mattered.

Enjoy the books and enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday, as the PDSPO is so thankful for your continued support and participation in our annual book fair and chili supper. THANK YOU!