Dollars for Davis Students

The Davis Schools Foundation 2010 Dollar-A-Day campaign is in full swing, and the community is stepping up in support of Davis students.  Our goal is ambitious: to raise $5.6 million to help close the Davis Joint Unified School District’s 2010 budget gap.  (For more information on the district’s budget situation, visit www.DistrictDollars.org.)

We invite you to join in celebrating and supporting our Davis schools at the following events.

Saylor Campaign Event Morphing into DSF Benefit

An April 1 fundraiser for Davis Schools Foundation will be held at the home of Jim and Karen Hopp in South Davis.

The Hopps and other Friends of Don Saylor originally planned the event to support Saylor’s campaign for county supervisor. But when no challengers entered the race, giving Saylor an easy victory in June, the group decided to “retool” the evening as an April Fool’s Day benefit for the schools foundation, Saylor said.

“You can call it ‘Retooled Fools,” he said. “We can celebrate our community and raise funds for the schools foundation at the same time.”

Guests at the event can participate at three levels: “Principal” level is for those making gifts of more than $365 to DSF; “Teacher” is for $365; and “Staff” is for less than $365. “But any contribution is welcome,” Saylor said.

The benefit will run from 5:30 to 8 p.m. and will feature hors d’oeuvres and beverages.  Musical entertainment and presentations by school groups are planned, but details are pending.

Rex and Janet Berry are co-hosting the event with the Hopps. To RSVP, email Jim Hopp at j45hopp@gmail.com or call him at (530) 759-9312.

Westlake IGA Market Plans Chili Cookoff as DSF Benefit

Westlake IGA Market will host a chili-cookoff  May 1 as a benefit and wrap-up for the Davis Schools Foundation’s Dollar-a-Day Campaign 2010.

It will run from noon-4 p.m. outside the store at 1260 Lake Blvd. Westlake organizers are inviting all Davis restaurants, service organizations and other groups and individuals  to make a donation and enter a chili recipe in the competition.

The public may purchase “tasting tickets” to sample the various chili concoctions. Local celebrities are being recruited as judges (Mayor Ruth Asmundson and Enterprise columnist Bob Dunning should expect an invitation soon).

“May 1 is May Day, and ‘mayday’ is also a call for immediate assistance,” said market spokesman Eric Nelson, a Davis resident. “Our schools need our immediate help to preserve programs and teachers, so this date is especially appropriate. The DeLano family, who own this market, want to do all they can to support public schools and schoolchildren in their communities.”

Other activities, foods and music will be part of the cook-off. More information will be posted by March 30 at www.westlakeiga.com.

“This will be the final fundraising event before the DJUSD layoff actions begin, so start testing your recipes and getting your teams organized,” Nelson said. “We look forward to sampling chili by local firefighters, UC Davis tailgaters – anyone with a great recipe and a desire to have fun and help our schools.”

DHS Musicians, Lohse Dancers Plan Joint DSF Benefit

The Davis High School Honors Orchestra conducted by Angelo Moreno is collaborating with Hanneke Lohse’s ballet troupe on a special opening to Lohse’s spring concerts in early May.

“The goal of the orchestra’s participation is not only to add to Hanneke’s already great performances but to create a heightened awareness for the need to raise funds for the Davis Schools Foundation,” said Moreno, DHS Orchestra Director. “We hope our efforts will contribute toward saving teachers who were pink-slipped in the Davis schools in the past two weeks. This project is part of the overall Music Program’s pledge to support the efforts of DSF and our fellow teachers.”

Moreno recruited volunteer members of the DHS Orchestra Program to form the “Honors” group to work with Lohse’s most advanced dancers on choreography of a selection by Mozart.

“All the students involved feel very strongly that this is their unique way of being able to support their teachers in this time of need,” Moreno said.  The performance will open the weekend’s evening concerts featuring “Coppelia,” a three-act comic ballet based on two stories by E.T.A. Hoffman, who also wrote the Nutcracker tale.

Performances will be held at 7:30 p.m. May 7 and 8, and 5:30 p.m. May 9 at the VETS Memorial Theater. Tickets are on sale for $12 each at the Davis Art Center.

Each evening’s performance will also feature wine tasting with wines donated by wine maker Ebenezer Yamoah and music by the newly formed DHS Baroque Ensemble during intermission.

The performances fall after the May 1 end of DSF’s Dollar-a-Day campaign, but foundation leaders were happy to accept Moreno’s proposal for the event.

“It’s too good to pass up,” said Karen Adams, DSF communications chair. “Our May 1 deadline is not firm. We just have to have funds transferred to the school district in time for its May 15 budget deadline to save teachers and programs for 2010-11.”

Moreno was one of four music teachers at the secondary level who received a pink slip in 2008, but his job was preserved through the generosity of the community’s contributions to that year’s Dollar-a-Day Campaign, which raised $1.7 million. The Measure W parcel tax, which passed that fall, has provided ongoing funding for the Elementary Music Program, which in turn has helped to protect his position as well as his colleagues.

“Myself as well as the entire Music Program’s staff are happy to give any support we can to the foundation’s fund-raising campaign,” Moreno said. “After all, 24 of our fellow teachers as well as myself are living proof of what can happen when the community comes together to support the education we are all so fortunate to have for our kids in Davis. Our programs are thriving today and are a testament of the support of organizations like DSF and the generosity of the community of Davis.”

For more information about the concerts, contact Moreno at amoreno@djusd.k12.ca.us.