OPENING MASS
Our first All School Mass of the year will be at 8:15 A.M. on Friday, September 10^th.  Please come to pray and sing with us as we celebrate the start of the new school year and the induction ceremony for our 2010-2011 Student Council officers and homeroom representatives.  Watch the monthly calendar for all of our Mass dates and come as often as you can.  Your participation in our school Masses shows the children that their faith is important—not only to them but to you as well.

PROTECTING GOD'S CHILDREN - VOLUNTEER
We continue to work to have all our volunteers complete the Protecting God’s Children/Virtus program, which is designed to protect the children entrusted to our care from all forms of abuse.  This program has four requirements for all Archdiocese of Chicago employees and all volunteers who work with children: participate in a Virtus training session, complete an online criminal background check, complete a paper background check form for the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS), and read the Archdiocese of Chicago Code of Conduct and return a signed acknowledgement form.

We always welcome new volunteers, but you MUST complete Protecting God’s Children in order to volunteer in any way at St. William (field trip chaperone, bake sale, classroom party, sports, etc.).  Please turn in the volunteer form included in the first day packet if you plan to be involved in school in any way this year.  If you have not gone through Protecting God’s Children, we will then send you the volunteer packet with complete instructions on the screening process.  Or you can pick up the packet in the school office to get a head start on your approval. 

In many cases volunteers completed all requirements except Virtus training.  If you completed the other steps last year, you will not be allowed to volunteer in any capacity until you have attended a Virtus training session.  St. William will offer two dates for Virtus training this fall.  We will let you know as soon as these dates are set so that you can complete your online registration as soon as possible.

We realize that Protecting God’s Children is a time-consuming process, but compliance with these procedures is required of all volunteers.  We are grateful to all those who help in so many ways, and we know you understand how important our children’s safety is—and keeping children safe is the purpose of the Protecting God’s Children program.

ARCHDIOCESAN HOT LUNCH PROGRAM
The Archdiocesan Hot Lunch Program is an optional program for students in full day preschool and full day kindergarten through 8^th grade.  Please read the enclosed information regarding hot lunch and the  “milk only” program.  All preschool and kindergarten students are able to purchase milk for their snack time through this program.  If you did not order lunches for August/September, you can pick up a menu and order form in the school office and your order will be processed as quickly as possible.  You will be notified when your child(ren) will begin to receive hot lunches. 

If you already ordered hot lunch for August/September, a copy of your lunch order is included in the hot lunch program information you are receiving today.  This month is the only time we will send you a copy of your order.

LUNCHROOM SUPERVISORS
As in the past, we are in need of parents (or other adult family members) to supervise our lunch/recess periods.  If you are interested in becoming a paid lunchroom supervisor, please sign and return the letter that was enclosed in the first day of school packet and plan to attend the orientation meeting on Friday, August 27^th, at 8:15 A.M. in room 316.  Please read the letter for details, and consider helping out in this important way.

FOOTBALL MANIA
Tickets for FootballMania, our early fall fundraiser, are available in the school office.  You do not have to pay for tickets until you have sold them—they are activated when you turn in the money.  Tickets cost $20.00, of which $10 will be applied to your mandatory fundraising fee.  When you sell or buy Football Mania tickets, be sure to have the buyer complete the entire ticket stub.  You may also want to keep a list of names and numbers from the tickets you sell.

For those of you who are new to FootballMania, this exciting fundraiser is based on professional football.  Football Mania is a sweepstakes, but the winning sweepstakes tickets are drawn in a unique way.  Each ticket has an equal chance to win based on the number of points scored by the football teams that are randomly assigned to the ticket.  Each ticket has a new chance to win in each of the 16 weeks of the professional football season. Last year St. William participants won a total of $3,585 in prize money, and if all our tickets had been activated (sold), we would have had even more winners.  So don’t miss out on your chance to be a lucky winner and meet your mandatory fundraising requirement at the same time.

WORLD’S FINEST CHOCOLATE CANDY SALE
Our World’s Finest Chocolate candy sale begins on Wednesday, September 22^nd and ends on Wednesday, October 13^th.  This year we are selling the 50 Bar Variety Packs only.  All bars cost $1.00 and each pack contains 15 milk chocolate with almonds, 5 dark chocolate with almonds, 10 caramel, 10 crisp, and 10 plain milk chocolate bars.  We received many complaints about the gummies in last year’s variety pack, so we hope you will have an easier time selling this assortment.  Detailed information and candy pre-order forms will be send home on Wednesday, September 1^st.  50% of the proceeds of this sale will be applied to your mandatory fundraising fee. 

Please note that we are NOT sponsoring the QSP Fall Gift Brochure fundraiser this year.  This sale is being replaced by Enjoy the City coupon books—information coming later in the year.

PARISH PROFITABILITY PROGRAM (PPP)
Again this year your purchases of certificates and gift cards through PPP, the Parish Profitability Program, can be applied to your mandatory fundraising fee.  Please consider participating in this program that costs you only the price of your purchase and helps with mandatory fundraising. 

NEW THIS YEAR—PPP gift cards orders will be filled at school, providing a faster turnaround time when you place an order.  We will send home detailed information about this program soon. 


EMAIL ADDRESSES
Please note that we continue to ask that you provide us with your email addresses on this year’s emergency form.  This can be a convenient way for us to communicate with you and vice versa.  Our email addresses here at school are listed on the last page of the Family Handbook.

MARKET DAY
If you haven’t given Market Day a try, this might be the time to start.  September order forms are included in today’s packet.  Market Day pickup will be Saturday, September 4^th, at a new time, 11:00 A.M. until noon.  Market Day quality and variety can’t be beat, so be sure to place an order.  Enjoy delicious food and support St. William School at the same time!  Also consider volunteering to help out at Market Day.

HELP OUR SCHOOL
Throughout the year there are a number of ways that families can help our school acquire learning resources.  Some of these programs are highlighted below:

Big G Box Tops for Education --- We collect Big G cereal box tops and related product labels.  This program provides us with cash rebates that we use primarily for technology.  Watch for more information soon.

Abitibi Paper Retriever --- Put your paper recycling in our green and yellow bins in the EDP parking lot.  All newspaper, magazines, junk mail, shredded paper, etc. is accepted.

Funding Factory Program --- Drop off your empty laser and inkjet computer cartridges and old cell phones at school.  We send them in and accumulate points for technology equipment.  If you or someone in your family works in an office, ask if they will donate their empty cartridges to St. William.

Target Take Charge of Education Program --- If you have a Target charge card, you can designate St. William School to receive credit whenever you make a purchase.

Campbell’s Soup Labels/Aluminum Cans/Pennies for Education ---  DISCONTINUED --- Please do NOT send soup labels, aluminum cans or pennies to school!

All of these programs are low or no cost to you.  We appreciate your support in these efforts, which help our school update and enhance programs and equipment.
 

UPCOMING DATES

<August 2010 Calendar>

<September 2010 Calendar>