Stokes Foundation Board Hard At Work Coming Up with Money-Saving Ideas and Fundraisers

Members of The Berkeley Township Education and Environment Foundation, the group formed to save the annual fifth-grade school trip to Stokes States Forest, are hard at work brainstorming money-saving and fundraising options.

"We've come up with lots of fundraising ideas," said member Cheryl Altieri. One noteable one is a possible 'entertainment book' that would be made up of merchants and programs unique to Berkeley Township.

Others ideas that have been floated in the past include seeking out a website-based sponsor, soliciting the Berkeley Township business registry for donors, as well as holding fundraising events such as car washes and spaghetti dinners.

As far as money-saving ideas, Altieri said, the option of attending the trip as one group rather than two has been proposed.

"We contacted Stokes and got a bare bones cost per student," she said. "Everybody's flexible in this economy."

Another member, Peggy Crawford, addressed the board of education at a meeting last week.

"We're hoping at the next [board of education] meeting we can come and give some concrete plans," she said.The next board of education meeting is scheduled for November 17 at 6:30 p.m. at the Berkeley Township Elementary School.

The foundation is trying to raise $80,000 which was the amount needed in the past to fund the outdoor education excursion, a 40-year-old tradition in the Berkeley school district.

The board of directors includes Byrnes, board member Dawn Parks and Michael Hill. More members have been added, but a minimum of three were needed to received a state charter, Byrnes said.

The Stokes trip involves taking the students to the 15,000-acre Stokes State Forest in Sussex County for the outdoor education program, which is managed by Montclair State University. Originally the trip was held for fifth-graders. It was eliminated in the 2009-10 budget, but restored in the 2010-11 budget, which gave the sixth-grade class students who missed it in fifth grade a chance to attend.

When the trip was scheduled to be cut from the proposed 2011-12 school year budget, a group of parents and former students petitioned the board in February to find a way to save it, sparking the idea to create a nonprofit foundation.

“It’s a great program,” said Byrnes, who spent a day last year visiting the program to see what it offers the children.  “I’d like to see it kept, but we can’t burden the taxpayers with trips when we are losing teachers.

“I think we will be all right raising the money as long as we have help from everybody.”

The trip's value to the students exceeds its monetary costs, he said.

“I think it is a great value," Bryrnes said. "It's a great environmental trip. For some kids, it's their only trip out of Bayville. They get to share a lot with their friends, learn a lot about the environment and learn a lot about life. “That is something you can’t put a monetary value on. I know the board is committed to this foundation and making it work,”