03/11/2026
A note from Helping Hands:
Dear PPES parents and guardians,
Here we are in WEEK 3 of the Read-a-thon, and the pages seem to be flying by. Our students are doing a phenomenal job at reading from school and at home. To date, our students have logged 76,000 collective minutes from home, and our teachers have logged another 200,000 at school! Our students love to read!
Our fundraiser has raised an impressive $20,000 so far. We are so grateful to parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, guardians, friends and neighbors who have contributed to this worthy fundraiser.
Fundraisers like the Fun Run and the Read-a-thon are our school's most significant and impactful fundraisers. The Fun Run's success allowed Portage Park Helping Hands to provide over $14,000 worth of recess equipment to the school, as well as cover $12,900 for school bus fees for classroom field trips. This spring or summer, the remainder of the school's wrought-iron fence will be painted.
A successful Read-a-thon will allow Portage Park Helping Hands to sponsor the Festival of the Arts so that all families can attend without paying admission fees. It will also provide necessary funds for the innovative Panther Fund awards, which is a competitive program that awards allowances to teachers and staff for programs that extend educational opportunities to all students. Here's a list of the amazing projects our teachers have brought to PPES, thanks to the Panther Fund:
- Pre-K Hands-On Insects Field Trip
- Kindergarten "Wiggle While We Work" chairs
- Kindergarten Classroom Technology and Printing Resources
- Kindergarten SEL/Calm Corner
- 1st Grade "From Storybook to Stage: A Collaborative Arts-Integrated Theater Experience"
- 1st Grade Kids Science Labs Classroom Visit
- 2nd Grade "Dancing & Drumming Our Way Through Cultural Stories"
- 3rd Grade Guest Author
- 6th Grade Field Trip to iFly
- 7th Grade Field Trip to Chinatown
- Middle School Science Supplies: "Making Science Hands-On"
- Media Arts Soundbooth Installation
- PE Fitness Supplies
- Cluster Classroom Cooking Supplies
- Cluster Classroom Reading Center
- PD for Special Education Teachers: "Regulate then Educate"
- Literacy OG Style: Multisensory Literacy Curriculum
- Lego Club Supplies for OST
- Student Arts Leadership Team Award
- Music Supplies
The Read-a-thon will also pay for some of your children's favorite days of the school year, including Field Day in June, and the Back-to-School Bash in August.
There are participation prizes for everyone in the Read-a-thon:
- ALL STUDENTS whose teachers are logging minutes from school will receive a participation prize of a custom "Cozy Up & Read" Bookmark.
- ALL STUDENTS who are logging minutes from home will receive a custom "Cozy Up & Read" Bookmark + a PPES Button.
- ALL STUDENTS who raise at least $50 will receive a custom "Cozy Up & Read" Bookmark + a PPES Button + a custom "Cozy Up & Read" Tote Bag.
Finally, there are some fun group prizes for the classrooms that READ the most. Each week, one class with the most minutes read will be awarded a PJ/Short Movie incentive. And at the end of the Read-a-thon, the class in EACH GRADE that has read the most minutes will be awarded a pizza party.
Portage Park Helping Hands is a not-for-profit 501(c)3. Our organization is run by a small but mighty set of volunteer parents. We have almost no administrative overhead. The funds that we raise are poured right back into the school.
If you need help accessing or using your student's Read-a-thon profile page with 99Pledges, please reach out to [email protected]. We are happy to assist. The Read-a-thon ends on March 20th!
Thank you for all that you do for our school community.
Sincerely,
Portage Park Helping Hands Board of Directors
