Moorpark High School PTSA Continues 14-year Fundraising Tradition

Because the school's cups don't runneth over, Moorpark High School relies heavily on its PTSA's mug-a-thon fundraiser to help cover costs of programs and activities.

At this time each year, groups of volunteers gather at the school in the early evening to call city residents in hopes of selling them a collectible mug, which another group of volunteers delivers the same night.

"This is our biggest fundraiser of the year," said Miriam Macleod, mug-a-thon chairperson and second vice president of ways and means.

"This funds most of the programs that the PTSA does."

The program raises roughly $8,000 annually and, in recent years, has funded classroom sets of books, dissection specimens for science classes, graphing calculators and a mascot outfit. The PTSA also annually awards about 20 scholarships ranging from $100 to $500.

"It's all based on requests from staff and students. ASB will come to us. Teachers will come," said Macleod. "Teachers come to our monthly meetings with requests and the board decides if it will serve a majority of students."

Now in the program's 14th year, the mugs have differed in size and shape from year to year, but the tradition of calling and delivering has remained unchanged. This year, the mug has returned to what one thinks of as a traditional coffee mug.

"We heard from people that they liked these better," said Macleod. "Plus, they're less expensive and we thought, with the economy, that would be good."

The $20 mug, white with a green and gold emblem, was designed by senior Blake Schafer.

"The design is done by students and one is selected to represent the school on the mug," said Jason Peplinksy, the school's principal. "This year we've chosen the school-wide learning expectations as the logo."

Those expectations include being academic achievers, responsible citizens and effective communicators.

The core call list the PTSA uses is as old as the mug-a-thon tradition itself, although it's shrunk over time as volunteers remove numbers that are no longer valid. New PTSA members are added to the list, but for privacy reasons, the school cannot release a phone list for current students so the organization is limited in its calling.

If you are not on the list but wish to purchase a mug or just make a donation to the PTSA, you can stop by the administration office during school hours or e-mail miriammacleod@mac.com.