Committee Needs
I want to speak from my heart as a 3rd year mom. Much of what our PTA has been doing over the past few years has been staffed with bare bones committees. It is really tricky to navigate having these committees, that bring exceptional experiences to our students, with few members. It burns out many of our time-generous members, to which I have no doubt are reading this and nodding.
Our goal is for everybody to have an enjoyable, non-overwhelming experience in their commitment to give back to our Collinswood community, for the benefit of our students, families and staff.
Honest truth: we need your help. The pandemic decimated our PTA “committees” participation. We need our members to be courageous and join a committee today. The infrastructure is there – contacts, paperwork, sign ups, often with team leads in place. Our goal is to have 5 members on each committee so that we can have them function at full throttle.
Remember, “Many hands make light work.”
We have an amazing PTA – truly we have SO much talent. None of this would be possible without the excellence of such a great group of families.
Please reply to Kym Gardner, our Volunteers Lead, at with your interest. You may also reach out to the team lead if you have any specific questions.
Fundraising/Invest Campaign
Lead: Robert Koch
Help with our Fall and Spring drives to solicit financial donations from parents and local corporate sponsors. This year, we are also looking to reach out to local businesses with the opportunity to be a sponsor of CLA. This team has a mix of remote and “boots on the ground” work.
Extracurriculars (elementary school)
Lead: Needed
Currently a few parents are each coordinating with a specific activity group.
This work is all remote. This team of parents works to bring in vendors who will run clubs to Collinswood for Fall, Winter and Spring sessions. We have a list of several. Much of this is reaching out to vendors we have used before to get them back in the school, although bringing on new activities is always welcome if you would like to reach out to new groups!
Outdoor Beautification Team
Lead: Ross Glynn
- Infinite volunteer opportunities available.
- Typically meets on a Saturday morning- once in fall and once in the spring to accomplish its mission – beauty of the outdoors 🙂
- This group divides and conquers, reaching out to potential grantors/donors, making plans, pricing out and purchasing products – this part is generally year round
- There is a separate PTA signup for parents to help with actual day-of work
Indoor Beautification Team
Lead: Dominique Bala
- Infinite volunteer opportunities available.
- Typically meets on a Saturday morning- once in fall and once in the spring to accomplish its mission – beauty of the indoors 🙂
- This group divides and conquers, reaching out to potential grantors/donors, making plans, pricing out and purchasing products – this part is generally year-round
- There is a separate PTA signup for parents to help with actual day-of work
Spirit Wear
Lead: Elena Marler
This team helps to keep track of our inventory and attends events for our “pop up” shops. Our online store is opening soon- it would be helpful to have folks that can be available to come to campus and deliver orders to a child’s classroom.
E-newsletter
Lead: Sherrie Cuevas
This team is part of the communications committee and assembles, produces, and distributes an e-Newsletter 1-2 times per month. We rely on a team of editors, content creators, translators, and those with 3rd party email marketing experience to help create our newsletters. All remote work.
Parent Social Committee
Lead: Needed
We would love to build our “Parent Socials” team to lead more casual family-friendly meet-ups. These low-key events help create camaraderie and inclusivity among parents via casual parent social gatherings and neighborhood park meetups. Neighborhood parks, like Park Road Park, Madison Central Park & Freedom Park are popular venues, as are kid-friendly social locations such as Olde Mecklenburg Brewery, Suffolk Punch at South Park Mall, and Seoul Food. Please reach out to Kym if interested!
Advocacy Committee
Lead: Gwen Lewis
The advocacy committee promotes advocacy on behalf of children and family engagement. Work is largely remote.
…but wait, there’s more! For a comprehensive list of our committees, please visit Volunteer Opportunities. I chose to highlight our acute needs. Please know that being on a committee is largely acting as a “point person”. Much of the committee work is remote. Committees that meet in person, it is typically for a short time span.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sherri Bissell
Vice President
Collinswood Language Academy PTA