The Wellington Elementary School PTO recently held a hugely successful Fun Run, which wrapped up Oct. 18. The Fun Run was called “Candyland Dash” and was themed after the famous board game.
According to Business Partner Coordinator Kristy O’Brien, the PTO has been working on the event since last May. She credited much of the success to strong community support.
“I started working in May on getting donations to use as prizes,” said O’Brien, who reached out to local business, as well as those across the state and beyond. “I ended up contacting more than 350 businesses. I was able to get more than $20,000 in donated items, gift baskets, food items, sponsorships, attraction tickets, museum passes and restaurant gift cards, all to be used as prizes for our Wildcats.”
The purpose of the fundraiser was to buy a new digital marquee to replace the original marquee that the school has had since opening more than 40 years ago. “Our goal was $55,000, and we ended up making over $70,000,” O’Brien said.
She noted that all of the promoting, flyers, posters, banners and prizes were done in-house with help from a team of volunteers.
The event started with a kickoff party and pep rally on Oct. 4. Then fundraising began, and students received prizes such as restaurant coupons, candy, small toys, larger toys, wireless earbuds, fitness trackers and more based on the amount they raised. Plus, they were entered into drawings for bonus prizes.
The top 20 earners from the entire school were able to select from the top prizes, which included four tickets to Universal Orlando Resort, a family stay at Great Wolf Lodge Naples, four tickets to SeaWorld, a PS5, four tickets to Aquatica, a Nintendo Switch, Sunday Brunch at Maxwell’s Plum and more. There were five bonus drawings with more than 75 winners of individual prizes.
Meanwhile, the top five earners were invited to a “Candyland Royalty” breakfast with Principal Dr. Maria Vaughan. The entire school received individual ice cream treats for making the school goal, sponsored by Aldi. The entire school also got to visit a bounce house obstacle course that was rented for two days of fun.
At the Fun Run on Oct. 18, every student received a banana and bottled water from Trader Joe’s, a wristband provided by i9 Sports, plus a coupon for a free kids’ meal at Raising Cane’s.
