Red Bank Teachers and Kids Make Fundraising a Social Network

In times of economic strife and budget cuts the students at Red Bank Middle School are discovering innovative resources and what the spirit of community really means, when it comes to supporting their extra-curricular activities. 

Red Bank Borough Superintendent, Dr. Laura Morana, proudly boasted on how the community, along with teachers have come together to support students, at her recent “Meet the Press” update on RBB schools.

“We have an incredible community that is truly responsible to the children of Red Bank,” said Morana.  

With this help students can still go on field trips and participate in other activities that not only serve as learning opportunities, but boost their self-esteem. 

The 77 students who achieved honor roll status for the first, second and third marking periods, were treated to a student incentive dinner.  Served by their teachers and other faculty, the student cafeteria was transformed into a swank restaurant with the students and their families greeted by a teacher posing as a maitre d and other teachers and faculty members dressed as waiters and waitresses. These kinds of incentives go a long way in the lives of adolescents who have worked hard to achieve high honors.  The dinner was sponsored by the Red Bank Borough Association. 

A combination of the creativity of students, parents and community members is leading to at least two trips for students, one to the Poconos and the other to The Museum of Modern Art.

Indeed, a creative idea like the eighth-graders paying $3 to bypass dress code and wear jeans on Friday, has helped these students raise funds for their  annual class trip to the Poconos Valley Resort.

However, the biggest credit perhaps goes to the creative gesture of the RBMS Parent Teachers Organization. Last summer it raised $2,300 by renting spaces at the RBMS parking lot where community members viewed the highly anticipated Independence Day fireworks. In addition, bake sales and car washes and a $20 donation from eighth-grade families have insured that the students will board the bus on June 1-2 for a fun-filled overnight excursion to the Poconos.  

Teachers Christopher Ippolito and Dr. Kathleen Doherty, in a collaborative effort, plan to broaden the horizon of fifth-graders when they head to MOMA this fall to study art and industrial design. A worthwhile but pricey endeavor. Due to budget cuts, upcoming field trips for the fall have been put on the back burner.  However, that has not stopped Ippolito and Doherty from showing their students how to be self-sufficient when it comes to raising the $2,000 needed for the trip. 

Through the power of social networking, the community has helped by posting the students’ fundraising campaign on their individual Facebook pages and with the use of the Indeigogo Share tools, students have already accumulated $1,400. Although the fundraising campaign will draw to an end in less than 19 days, the students are more than half-way there.

 “It’s a viable platform to raise money for other school issues,” said Ippolito.

This week Frame to Please in The Galleria will also be collecting donations for the trip at its exhibition of A Phish Eye View.