Band Booster Family,
First of all, what an awesome exhibition our kids put on this evening! It’s hard to believe that they’ve only been practicing for 2 weeks. Thank you to the students for putting on a great show that will get better with each practice, show, & competition: ) Please see vids that I posted on YouTube:
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyTzDeZBXxQ
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jM3YLBqPsc8
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8JXeItocf0
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJh4gTe4ezs
Secondly, thank you to Mr. Burke, Mr. Helm, Alison Andrews, & the others for working with our kids! This is my 7th year with their program & have learned that they’re teaching our students more than just music. They are instilling life skills: cooperation, confidence, & character.
Thirdly, welcome back to those that have been part of the Band Boosters & welcome to the new members of our family! Thank you for bringing & sharing ALL of the delicious food;) Additionally, just like any family, there is a lot of work that needs to be done & we each have a responsibility to take a role in some of the many areas of volunteerism (the same values we share with our kids).
The Band Booster motto is, “Treating every kid as if they’re our own!” followed by “Humbly serving our kids.”
Already our volunteer spirit is truly showing itself. Two weeks ago, my #1 priority was finding a Treasurer. Now, we have Rob Dowell as the primary with Ken Lichtman as the secondary. Tonight I announced that my new #1 priority was finding a new Tag Day Coordinator to shadow Erin Fitzsimmons. Now, we have Michele Booth & Jocelyn Valdez volunteering. We are so blessed! My new, new #1 is to convince Mr. Burke to have my Presidential pay doubled…since my #1’s are coming true, I might as well try…lol;)
So, I’m reviewing the volunteer sign-up sheets & we’re off to a great start. Thank you to everyone that has already signed up. I especially appreciate all of the new names of new Band Booster Family membersJ There are still many opportunities to be proactive & positive in helping our kids. Below were some of the items offered @ tonight’s potluck:
- Sign-up for TAG Day fundraisers: TAG Days are our #1 fundraiser of the year, with fruit sales second. Erin Fitzsimmons is leading this effort. This year’s TAG Days are 8 am to 4 pm, Sat, 10 Sep and 8 am to 12 pm, Sat, 17 Sep. The students break-up into groups of 4. We need a volunteer driver for each group. Each group is assigned an area to go door-to-door asking for donations to the Hayfield Band.
- Sign-up for events (ie football games, competitions, All-District Band, etc) This is the heart of the performances. Dottie Andrews, Kelley John (who’s working on Sign-Up Genius that want to use it again), & I are leading this effort. For each home game (Fri, 9 Sep; Fri, 30 Sep; Fri, 14 Oct; Fri, 21 Oct; & Fri, 28 Oct), we need help getting uniforms on students, bringing snacks/drinks, saving bleacher space, bringing out equipment, halftime show, & bringing in equipment. For competitions (Sat, 24 Sep Herndon; Sat, 15 Oct, Oakton; & Sat, 22 Oct VBODA Battlefield HS), Bobby Otero has volunteered to drive the rental truck. We need volunteers to help load equipment on truck, unload @ competition, place on field for show, take off field, load back on truck, & unload back @ school.
- If you’re interested, first come, first serve, we still have 4 Band Booster spirit t-shirts: 1 small, 2 larges, & 1 2XL $10 each…just send me an e-mail & pay me for exchange of the t-shirt.
- If you didn’t get a chance to fill out the Band Booster contact list spreadsheet tonight, please send me the following info: last name, your kid’s name, each parents’ names, grade, phone #, cell #, & e-mail address. Thank you…this will really help me: )
- Mr. Burke is still taking Marching Band shoe orders/payments. Please feel free to either contact him directly or let me know.
Fourthly, just a few miscellaneous thoughts:
- I’ll be out of town next week on business, & there is an In-Service event that my wife, Atsuko Russell will lead the morning of Wed, 31 Aug that will add $300 to the Band Booster fund. However, she could use some help getting donuts, bagels, coffee, and setting up the cafeteria. If you’re available, please send me an e-mail.
- Mr. Burke mentioned sending a travel band to the South County game Fri, 2 Sep. Though no volunteer parents are needed, he wanted kids to volunteer to go to the game. More details to follow.
- We had a family night out fundraiser @ UNO’s restaurant last year. Again, Atsuko Russell ran this. We had a lot of fun & made a few hundred dollars for the band. If I could get a volunteer for this year, it would greatly be appreciated. Please let me know.
- Speaking of budget, Rob Dowell is still taking membership dues of $10 or patron contributions of $25 for this year. Being a patron is not only helpful for the band, but your name will printed in the concert programs, which is really cool: )
- During the band year, if you take photos, please send them to me. We will post some on the Hayfield Band webpage. Additionally, I will use them for the Marching Band Awards potluck slideshow, Wed, 9 Nov.
- A couple items for parents of seniors.
o It’s not too early to be thinking of the 3 pictures (baby, kid, & senior shots) you want to show of your student @ the end of year concert. Especially because you may need to hunt & scan the baby & kid pics to send me later.
Finally, these are our kids & our Band Booster. The kids will rarely, if ever, thank you for what you do, but I know they do appreciate it. I’m very open to any & all ideas to improve the program. This is just the beginning of an outstanding year. We really need to work like a family to make it a total success.
Humbly serving our kids,
Che Russell
Home (703) 405-9065
Cell (703) 963-4655
Work (202) 231-6273
