401 E. Piankishaw, Paola, KS 66071     Phone:  913.294.3476     Fax:  913.294.0074

From:  Miami County Republic

Written by Jesse Kratz   

Wednesday, 10 November 2010

With silk dresses and fancy bow ties, the children of SonShine Preschool at First Lutheran Church were dressed to the nines Friday night.

The second annual Art Show and Auction kicked off at the school that evening with students’ art pieces on display for parents to purchase, as well as gift baskets donated by members and businesses of the community.

The artists themselves were on site to show off their skills to family members and several dedicated dads made the rounds through the crowd to serve hors d’oeuvres of little smokies, juice boxes and fruit snacks. Little fingers reached up to carefully pick off tasty treats as they pointed out their paintings, clay figures and art pieces for quilts to parents and siblings.

Last year, Booster Club President Alexis Shaw said the event alone raised about $2,200 for the school, which all went back to purchase items for the school itself.

(photo by Jesse Kratz)

Several baskets were available to bid on during the silent auction portion of the event, which also included a live auction of quilts the children helped make. Items in the silent auction ranged from baskets from El Tapatio, local artist Claud Davis, Simply You, Subway, Grooming by Tracy and Applebee’s, to name a few.

Kris Fuchs, director and lead teacher for the school, and Kay Phipps, the assistant teacher, received a bouquet of flowers from the students for all of their hard work and commitment.

“To me, it’s amazing,” Fuchs said at the event. “Last year we far exceeded our expectations and it has been a wonderful thing.”

Fuchs added that she couldn’t say enough about the school’s booster club.

“It’s just awesome. I could not be more pleased,” she said.

This year the school raised $2,450, which is up about $250 from last year.

Shaw said she was extremely excited about the progress.

“We had more families this year and more community involvement,” she said. “We had really great donations and we’re really happy that people stepped up this year to help the preschool.”

She added that a brainstorming session will happen this week to determine what the funds can best be used for.