By Melissa Wagoner
When Scotts Mills Elementary School’s Parent Teacher Community Club (PTCC) heard that the Mt. Angel Chamber of Commerce needed help staffing their annual Oktoberfest booth and that they were willing to share proceeds with any organization that volunteered, they jumped at the chance.
“Katie Sommer, PTCC president, volunteered to head this up and find volunteers for two full days. At three shifts per day with at least four people per shift,” Courtney Goode – PTCC treasurer for the past nine years – recalled. No small feat for an organization whose board consists of four full-time members.
However, undaunted and driven by the pressing need to fund this year’s eighth grade graduation fund, the PTCC made it work, enjoying themselves in the process.
“The chamber booth sells souvenirs (hats, pins, ornaments, buttons, steins, etc.) and it was tons of fun seeing locals and meeting folks from all over the country – and the world,” Goode said. She volunteered alongside her daughter Brielle, a seventh grader at Scotts Mills.
The shared experience, and the bonus of customer service skills Brielle and the other student volunteers gained, made this fundraising opportunity one the PTCC hopes to do again.
“We would love to partner with Mt. Angel Chamber again,” Goode said. “This was a great opportunity for our middle schoolers to give back and earn some money for their class.”
The $1,000 the Mt. Angel Chamber presented to PTCC president Katie Sommer for the group’s help could go a long way toward funding future projects, like the much-needed covered playground the PTCC hopes to build one day.
“Nine grades of PE and recess can get tricky in poor weather, and our kids often choose to get wet rather than miss out on free time,” Goode explained. “We are highly motivated to finally build our students a covered structure and the majority of our fundraising is to try to achieve that goal.”
