It's an early-February PTO Newsletter!
And there was much rejoicing.
The Short of It:
Fuzzy’s Taco Shop fundraiser Tuesday, February 13
Silent Auction and Bingo Night, March 22
Sneaker Ball a grand success
The Long of It:
Even the bleak February sunlight can be harvested for material gain by trees and the Sunshine Committee
The earth is approximately three million miles closer to the sun today than it will be in July. Three million miles! Closer! Do you have any idea how far three million miles is? That’s even further than the Target out on 29 at rush hour, by a lot! Three million miles is approximately how far my kids think they have to travel round-trip when I ask them to go grab a new bag for the kitchen trashcan from the basement. You could go to the moon and back six times and not quite get to three million miles. Look at this photo from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx probe, taken when it was about three million miles away from the earth.
It’s really far, is what I’m saying, but even three million miles has almost no impact on the amount of radiant energy the earth collects from the sun—it’s something like a one percent difference, a trivial amount easily overwhelmed by the much more important fact of our winter tilt. The sun is barely even up in February! It climbs to about a thirty-degree angle and gives us an Eeyore-esque “Thanks for noticing me,” and slumps on back to the southern hemisphere like a sullen teen who only comes out of their bedroom to silently look at their phone on the couch for ten minutes before retreating again. In July, we’ll be 94.5 million miles away from the sun and ten minutes spent outside will have the bottoms of shoes melting into the pavement—three million miles closer today, and the sun might as well be an LED bulb in the fridge.
Still, the cold, paltry winter sunlight of February is photosynthesized by various evergreens, and even the deciduous hardwoods that shed all their leaves do a little photosynthesis with the small amount of chlorophyll in their bark or smaller twigs and branches, generating sugar in preparation for spring growth that also happens to lower their freezing point, making them hardier and more likely to survive the winter. Nature takes what’s on offer, and does what it can with it. The energy from the sun is considerably less abundant than it will be this summer, making it all the more precious. Which brings us to the Sunshine Committee.
Jenn Maeng and the Sunshine Committee—like a birch tree with a layer of chlorophyll just below its thin bark, or a hardy moss managing to do photosynthesis with the little bit of light filtering through the snowpack—are going to take what sunshine is on offer and make the most of it by harnessing the love and appreciation all our kids have for their teachers and pouring it into handmade Valentines. We’re looking for volunteers to help the kids create and construct these Valentines before school on February 12, 13, and 14, and then the Sunshine Committee will stuff the teachers’ mailboxes with more midwinter warmth than the sun generates all month. We’re also gratefully accepting donations of whatever Valentines-themed paper, stickers, doilies, or other crafty supplies might be useful for such an endeavor. Please click here for more information.
Sunshine is also an important factor in the chili-making process, of course, but this metaphor has already been stretched well beyond its welcome and will not be employed again until at least the next newsletter. Don’t let that stop you from contributing to the Sunshine Committee’s Chili Lunch, though! We need your wonderful chili, toppings, salad, cornbread, and various utensils and disposable dishware so that we can treat the Johnson teachers and staff to a delicious chili lunch on February 27. Click here to sign up to help make this happen!
Fuzzy’s Tacos fundraiser night!
On Tuesday, February 13, from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. if you go eat at Fuzzy’s Taco Shop in 5th Street Station, the PTO will get a percentage of the cost of your meal back as a donation. There will be a basket next to the cash register, and all you have to do is drop your receipt in there and we get a cut. You get dinner, we get money! Easy! We are very grateful to Fuzzy’s for their participation and generosity.
Look, I didn’t name the place. Honestly, it strikes me as a curious decision, to call a restaurant “Fuzzy’s,” because I can’t really think of a food that, when fuzzy, is more appetizing. Just think of a kiwi! From the outside, not a very appealing fruit! If I pull something fuzzy out of the fridge, something has almost certainly gone terribly wrong. But this is a big-time national chain, so I guess a decent amount of market research has gone into all aspects of the business, including the name, and they came to the opposite conclusion. Please don’t let my squeamishness about the name stop you from enjoying their delicious menu! In fact, maybe consider it an impressive flex: they named their restaurant Fuzzy’s Taco Shop way back in 2001 and now they’re a successful national Baja-style Mexican food concern with more than 150 locations in 17 states. Those must be some good tacos!
February 13th! Dinner at Fuzzy’s. See you there!
Silent Auction and Bingo Night!
Our biggest fundraiser of the year is coming up on Friday, March 22, from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. As always, we’ll have food trucks on site and an array of exciting items to bid on in addition to two hours of bingo in the cafeteria with plenty of great prizes to choose from. It’s always a very fun night and is how we raise the overwhelming majority of the money we use to make life easier on the Johnson staff in every way we can, so be sure to mark your calendars.
If you would like to volunteer to help out with this event, please reach out to us via the PTO email or just message Laura directly. We’re always looking for extra hands that night. Thanks!
Do it for the ‘gram.
Your Johnson Elementary PTO may be young in spirit, but not so young that we feel comfortable starting a TikTok. Instead, we have added an Instagram account to our stable of various ways of communicating with all you fine people. Please give us a follow to keep up with…well, whatever it is Jill decides to post to our Instagram! I imagine there will be important announcements, tasteful photos of various PTO events, and definitely no cringey aging-millennials-just-trying-to-be-cool content at all.
2024 Sneaker Ball a great success
Finally, a quick shout-out to Principal Mickens and all the volunteers who made Johnson’s first ever Fourth Grade Sneaker Ball such an awesome time for all the fourth-graders who made it out a couple of Thursdays ago. The kids all had a blast dancing and singing and eating and mashing Skittles into sticky little exploded stars on the cafeteria floor. Balloons were inflated, balloons were popped, there was line dancing and a conga line and a photo booth and much fun was had all around. We’re excited to continue this new tradition in the years to come.
Thanks for reading, and have a great week!