, 
, 
, 
, 
, 
, 
, 
, 
, 
Luverne Elementary students gathered in the school gymnasium Wednesday afternoon, May 1, to hear if they would be duct-taping their principal to the wall.
They would not, because they fell short of the Parents Partner in Education (PPIE) 2019 goal of $13,000.
The K-5 students raised $10,900.
“And that is very impressive,” said PPIE President and Dash organizer Anne Shelton. “We still did an amazing job even though we fell short of our goal.”
The Cardinal Dash is the parent organization’s annual fundraiser. It involves students selling $10 pledge cards over a two-week period in the spring.
Students earned prizes to various activities including the city pool depending on pledge amounts.
First-grader Ian Meyeraan raised the highest pledge amount with $800, followed by second-grader Nolin Shelton ($340), second-grader Lydia Jarchow ($250), second-grader Sophia Nolz ($230) and kindergartner Bentley Leicher ($230).
Sandy Klosterbuer’s first-grade class garnered the Cardinal Dash trophy for returning the highest amount in pledges ($1,040). Kelly Bergan, second grade, raised $960 and Heidi Schacht, kindergarten, $920.
In return for the pledges students participate in a fun run/walk called the Cardinal Dash.
This year’s fun run took place after the awards ceremony Wednesday afternoon. Parents and the public could join students in the event.
Overnight rains Wednesday pushed the Dash route to hard surfaces only.
Students started in the elementary school parking lot, followed the Dodge Street sidewalk east to loop around the road and sidewalk in front of the middle-high school. The Dash ended at Cardinal field, where students walked around the track as they drank water while they cooled down.
The Dash event finished with a grade level tug of war competition in the school gym.
PPIE switched to the current pledge card format in 2015, replacing the traditional frozen food sales.
Only one annual event (in 2017) surpassed the fundraising goal.
“One struggle we have is that participation in our events is on the rise, and yet donations are down,” Shelton said.
PPIE uses the Dash dollars for a variety of activities and materials to supplement the school’s educational experience.
Some of those experiences include swim lessons for second- and third-graders, Prairie Ecology Bus visits, author talks, kindness retreat, respect lunch and special staff requests.
Money raised through the Cardinal Dash ranged from $10,000 in 2016 to $17,244 in 2017.
“Over the past several years, PPIE has scaled back (on funded projects),” Shelton said. “This coming school year we will definitely have to look at each of our events and make decisions on how to proceed.”
Money raised over this year’s $13,000 goal were to go toward the kick-off of the school’s “Expression is Elementary” project, where various artists would work with individual classrooms on various art projects.
The PPIE group will be making a decision on how to move forward with the proposed art program in the future.
“We are exploring options for additional fundraising to help support Expression is Elementary and also PPIE in general,” Shelton said.