By Chris Hendrickson, Monitor
The Sultan Elementary School Parent Teacher Organization is hosting their second annual Fall Festival Bingo Bash fundraiser at Sultan Elementary School, 401 Date St., on Friday, Oct. 25. Doors open at 5 p.m. and the games start at 6 p.m.
In addition to bingo, the festivities will include a costume contest and raffle, with dinner options available for purchase.
In lieu of admission, attendees should bring a nonperishable food donation to benefit the Sultan Food Bank. Bingo cards will be available for $2 each or six cards for $10. All proceeds will support Sultan Elementary School's Read-at-Home program and other school events and activities.
For each item of food donated, attendees will receive a raffle ticket good for the chance to win festive door prizes. Door prize raffle tickets will be available in exchange for food donations only.
Read-at-Home is an incentive-based program that encourages kids to spend more of their free time reading books. The program offers kids different prizes for achieving established daily and monthly reading goals. Last year the Read-at-Home program was shooting for a school-wide goal of 2 million minutes of extracurricular reading to be accomplished throughout the school year; a goal that they achieved.
The reward system is reflective of consistency; kids who achieve their reading goals for consecutive months are eligible to receive greater rewards including special assemblies, free recess periods and popcorn parties. Last year's special assembly featured the locally-renowned motivational speaker Greg Bennick who gave a lively presentation during which he performed a juggling routine while impressing on the audience the importance of reading and being creative.
Read-at-Home is already off to a great start this year, according to parent volunteer Polly Bridgewater.
"We had seven classes with 100 percent participation this last month,GÇ¥ said Bridgewater. "That is a record.GÇ¥
Bridgewater has actively worked in the community garnering interest, spreading awareness of the program and obtaining donations which are used to motivate the kids to accomplish their reading goals.
Bridgewater has been busy seeking support for Friday's Bingo Bash which, as a result of her efforts, will feature many donated prizes including movie passes from Galaxy Theater, four-day YMCA passes, a DVD player, a Hewlett Packard tablet, gift cards from several local businesses, guitar lessons and much more.-á Handmade items will also be given away.
"Our community has been super generous,GÇ¥ said Bridgewater.
Local residents and businesses donating gifts include Del's Feed and Farm Supply in Monroe, Monroe Pet Pros, Sky Valley Wood, Sultan Rehabilitation, Polly Bridgewater, Sahara Pizza, Galaxy Theater, Sultan Dental, Fred Meyer, Thrifty 4 You, Grocery Outlet, Glo Tan in Sultan, E-man Data Recovery, Monroe YMCA, Miss Maggie's Deserts, Dr. Naumann and Dr. Knoff, the Arnold Family, Jollee Boranian, Don and Marlene York, Player's Music Mart in Monroe and more.
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