Latest / The Recess-An Inside Look at the Auburn School District / Episode #42 Brenda Ellison, Auburn Public Schools Foundation President

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Episode #42 Brenda Ellison, Auburn Public Schools Foundation President · The Recess-An Inside Look at the Auburn School District

• 0:20
  SPEAKER_01: Hello, and welcome to the Recess Podcast.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_01: I'm your host, Dr.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_01: Alan Spicotti, the proud superintendent of the Auburn School District, and the Recess gives me a chance to take you behind the scenes and learn a little bit more about the district.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_01: Many times we have staff members, we have students, we have a really great community partner here to speak about the Auburn Public Schools Foundation today.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_01: So this is going to go in a little different direction, but I think a really good one.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_01: We're going to hear about a lot of people who do a lot of good for kids and our community.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm so proud to be the Auburn School District Superintendent because this community is so supportive.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_01: And the Auburn Public Schools Foundation is one way that that happens.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_01: They raise money to support teachers who are doing innovative things.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_01: And ultimately, they provide amazing opportunities and experiences for our kids.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_01: And this foundation has just grown over time and they continue to grow.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm just so proud to be on the board of the Auburn Public Schools Foundation and work with some great leaders in our community.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_01: And let me go ahead right now and introduce one of them to you.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: And my guest this uh episode is Auburn Public Schools Foundation board president Brenda Ellison.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_01: Brenda, welcome to the Recess Podcast.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Alan.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for inviting me.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: It's a pleasure to be here.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, so glad to have you.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_01: Brenda came to us just with this amazing spark of generosity and uh and a real passion for asking for money, which is can be a hard thing for people to do, but uh it's also an easy thing when you try and you get a little success.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_01: So maybe Brenda will teach us how to do that uh and tell her story of how she got involved in the the school foundation.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_01: But we're gonna start with our first question on every episode of the Recess Podcast.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_01: Brenda, who is your favorite teacher and why?
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: I wish I could say it was hard to answer, but I I know who my favorite teacher was for all time: elementary, middle, high school, college, Dr.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: Marvin Coles, um, my chemistry physics teacher at Auburn.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: I graduated in '77, and I probably I think I had him for three years.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: I just I'll never forget him.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: I think of him all the time.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: I don't even know if he's out there still and hears this podcast.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: I wish I could have relayed that to him.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: He probably wouldn't even know how I felt.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_01: Did you pursue science uh after high school?
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_01: And it what was it about Mr.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_01: Dr.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_01: Cole's class, uh, how he taught it or the content?
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_01: Or tell us about that.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: He was a very quirky guy, and he pretended to be an alien, number one.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: And he looked very alien.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: He carried himself uh uh, you know, almost other than human, and he would communicate with the mothership.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: We all were addressed by I don't know what you'd call it, not not our names backwards, but the syllables would be reversed.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: So I was Adnerb and my husband Guy was Yug.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: And and still today, when I run into folks who shared those experiences, they they'll, hey, Adnerb, it's just never left us.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: He was a ham radio guy.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: He he was amazing.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: He and he he sparked the imagination.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I never look at the night sky that I don't remember Mr.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: Cole's classes and learning about astronomy.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: And for years I was addicted to staring at the night sky and tracking where all the you know, I didn't feel oriented unless I knew where the constellations were, where the North Star was, and all of that.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I did study math and physics after high school, but not to the extent that I felt I would when I was studying in Mr.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: Cole's classes.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_01: I love your vivid recall of Mr.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_01: Cole's class.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_01: And uh the more I talked about teachers with kids, like they really appreciate when teachers don't take themselves too seriously.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_01: You know, that's I think that's universal across the generations.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_01: That's a great story, Brenda.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_01: Help our audience understand uh what the Auburn Public Schools Foundation does for the Auburn School District.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: We to put it simply, we fill in gaps.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we provide opportunities for teachers to do things they wouldn't otherwise be able to do.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: We work side by side with the district to provide funding specifically in areas that don't have funding coming from the public sector.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: We have uh two programs, two main programs.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: One is a teacher grant program, and the other one addresses basic needs for kids, emergency funding for on-campus emergencies.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: And we recently have started stocking and managing a pantry full of coats, underwear, t-shirts, uh, water bottles, backpacks, and various other things as we find them in demand across the district.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_01: Uh but this is a discussion that we've had a number of times.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_01: The school district does have a large budget, um, but we are providing as salary and benefits to over 2,000 staff.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we're paying for all the school buses, and it's actually when you when you pencil it out, is very tight.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_01: And beyond that, there are some rules of you know, things that we can and can't spend public money on, district money on.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_01: And then there are niche things that certain teachers uh are empowered to do that we couldn't afford to scale up, you know, a particular field trip and to have every teacher be able to offer that of a you know given grade level or subject.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_01: But we often have teachers who come and say, I want to do this field trip or this project, and it's a rocket club, or it's a science field trip, or it's uh something for students with special needs, and like they will do a magical thing for kids.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and and it might not be the right thing at the school down the road, but this flexibility that Auburn Public Schools Foundation provides I think really uh gives a lift to teachers who are doing amazing things for our kids.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_01: I want to th thank them on that.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um and then I am glad you brought up the basic needs because we have significant need in our district and we have uh a number of good resources in our community for sure, the food bank and uh many other churches and nonprofits.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_01: But to empower again, empower our staff uh be it a a counselor, nurse, a family engagement liaison to have just a little bit of resource to meet a student or family's need in real time makes a big difference.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_01: And uh I can tell you it makes makes a huge difference to our staff to be able to do something and help because their heart is always in it, but the resources aren't always there.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_01: So thanks to APSF uh for for both the teacher grants and and what we do for basic um needs.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_01: All right, let's let's talk about the money.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_01: I kind of teased it in the beginning.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah um tell us how Auburn Public Schools Foundation, we call it APSF, is funded.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: We are a 501c3 nonprofit, and our funding comes uh 100% from donations, but we're working on broadening that base.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: Uh we we have a uh thriving um employee participation set segment in the school, and every year we do go into the schools and and share what we do and ask uh employees to pledge a little bit of their paycheck towards our cause.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: That's a small part of our funding.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: We also work in the community.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: We have uh an ever-growing number of businesses who now understand how important community involvement is in developing the public schools and helping the kids and families in their community.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: And they are participating now by making gifts.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it's in sponsorship forms at our fundraiser events, but we're moving more towards where they're saying, Um, I have one business that's been supporting us now that wants to make an annual donation.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: And so we're we're really pursuing avenues in the business community.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: The alumni community is an area that I started working in.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: That's uh how I first started raising money for APSF, was working with friends and colleagues in the alumni community.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: We also go after grants from other bigger foundations.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um we research, read, apply for grants, and sometimes we get some, and that just makes everything a lot easier.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's inspiring those uh dollar figures have climbed pretty significantly over time.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_01: And uh one of the things that Brenda and I and the in the board talk about is we have aspirations for the foundation, uh, but I'm really proud of of how far it has come.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_01: From ten years ago, it's grown substantially.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um and I think the foundation's been really smart about asking and expanding those asks.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_01: And uh I'm actually curious I'm gonna ask later what your best success story is, but if it's not the one I'm thinking of, I'll bring it up because I I think we've we've done some really good work.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and I say we because I'm on the board, um but really it's it's Brenda and the other board members and Jan Meredith who is the development director and uh a lot of people coming together who show up and and do good things for our kids.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_01: And businesses that are like I saw uh you know Ron Clauden's GMC hosting code drives, putting social media posts out there.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so it's it's just really exciting to to have that kind of support.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, uh talk about your journey.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_01: How did you become I know you have a good story because you've you've told this in board meetings, but how did you become involved in APSF and then how did you get to your current role as president?
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it's a it's a complex story, and there's layers.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: I'll try to try to stick to the most important elements.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: I have a little bit of background in fundraising before I arrived here.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: I volunteered for an art collective for over 20 years previous to my time here, and most of that time was doing fundraising.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: So that was in me.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: And when I was teaching in the past, I was a high school teacher in two different districts.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_00: There were always opportunities in those districts to go out into the community and ask for donations.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: So I did a lot of that kind of work, even as a teacher.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: It just the opportunities were there, and I must gravitate towards it.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: We moved back home in 2012, and Dr.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_00: Jim Fugitt and the Fugit family were very important to me growing up, and I always kept in touch with his daughter Jennifer.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: And so, of course, I followed up with them when we moved home and reconnected, and uh and when Jim died in 2018, I was reading his obituary, and I saw that the family was asking that donations be made to the Auburn Public Schools Foundation.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: And I didn't even know there was one.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: And so that got me excited because I thought with my fundraising brain, evidently, I just thought, I bet I can raise money from my class.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: Class is 77.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: I got this.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm gonna work on this and bring some money into the the foundation in honor of Jim.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: So that's how it started.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: And I uh I ran three fundraisers like that.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the first one was we made about$2,500.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: The second one, we made almost$15,000.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: And the third one, we made$30,000.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: Around that time, I started thinking maybe I should get involved in the board.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_01: I remember when you came to it, might have been your first board meeting or one of them, and you told this story and and you know, sitting down with friends and asking if they would donate a thousand dollars to the um, exactly what I did.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_01: And it was really powerful.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_01: And and you modeled how you did that.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I I also want to just pause for a second, and probably most people listening to this podcast know, but uh Dr.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_01: Jim Fugit was the longtime superintendent of Auburn School District from 1974 to 1998, uh, and stayed in the community and was an active Rotarian and just uh a big supporter of the schools.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_01: His daughter Jennifer is on the board now, a board of the APSF.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and two of his granddaughters have been a part of the board over time, or they're still involved in various ways.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_01: So the fugit family has been very involved, and and and Jim's uh widow, Billy, has been very generous as well.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_01: So uh we're we're so grateful for the fugit family.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, we are.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_01: And so that path led you to being you know taking a leadership role in the foundation, and you took on president probably somewhat reluctantly, uh, but also with a very strong sense of mission.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: I raised my hand for that.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: I I don't have a great explanation.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: I feel called to do this work.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: That's the best way I can put it.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like my experiences in life have led me to this place, and it seemed like a job that I could make some positive uh momentum.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm trying to do that.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I I'm doing the best I can to to build the APSF and to build the board and to provide some vision.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_01: You've y you've done a great job and you brought a lot of I think a voice that we need to, you know, to be passionate, to be kind and considerate and caring, but also to do it with like some discipline and accountability and hardheadedness.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um because it's easy to get caught up in doing good and uh it it works better and it does more good if you're really keeping an eye on the bottom line and asking, is this working or is it not, or would another strategy work better?
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_01: And so you you push our thinking uh to have those conversations on on the APSF board.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks, Alan.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, uh speaking of the board, um we have some amazing people on the APSF board.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_01: Uh but what opportunities are available for board service?
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_00: We do have an amazing board.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_00: I'm really thankful for all the volunteers that show up.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: We have about I think we have 13 right now, but it might be 12.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: Board service and the APSF board is for anyone who has a heart for public education and has a little bit of time and maybe, you know, a few ideas about how they could help come alongside the public school district and and make you know the community better here for for all the kids.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: We have such a wide range of diversification.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_00: And it's not like it was when I was growing up here.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's just so different.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: And if you have a heart for public education and a heart for kids, and you want to, you know, join a group of people that are working hard to build resources and then bring resources into the district and places that wouldn't have that ability otherwise, then we're the we're the place for you.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody has skills in some area.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_00: So I wouldn't worry about that.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you can come to the board and you'll develop, you'll you'll learn where uh your skills are best applied.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, if you're at all interested, I would encourage you to reach out to Brenda or Jan or me um and come to a meeting and see what it's all about.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_01: Come to an event, uh, volunteer.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_01: Some of our folks started small and they they attended an event or or volunteered and then uh grew into board service.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_01: And there are different, you know, strengths and attributes of each board member, and we've got board members who are best at rolling up their sleeves and you know helping us get things done.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_01: There are board members who can write a check and can ask others to and combinations of that skill set.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_01: And it's it's really helpful.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_01: And I believe the the bylaws allow for 20 board members.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_01: So uh we're looking to to continue to add.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_01: Uh but really honestly, I think about just a great mix of folks who bring a lot of different strengths and and uh have an incredible heart for our s our schools.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_01: All right, let's shift gears here and talk about what the foundation actually does and has uh achieved.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_01: And I I like to ask that in the form of um tell us about your favorite success story from your work with the Auburn Public Schools Foundation.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: My first answer is that in the time I've been here, I feel like we've we've been able to broaden the population that we're delivering services to.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_00: So initially, only a few people could apply for the pantry funds, for example.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_00: And now we've opened that up, and there's probably now at least three people on every campus who have the ability to apply for the pantry funds.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_00: Initially, we didn't have a clothing pantry, and now we do, and that can serve so many kids.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_00: One of my favorite grants is the um Jesse Kincaid at Cascade who took groups of kids up to Mount Rainier multiple times, and they learned about environmental sciences, they learned how to survive in the snow, they uh took all kinds of classes on the different kinds of flora and fauna, and just experienced the mountain in all its glory, which I love.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: So that's that's probably my all-time favorite, but there's more.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and the foundation was really integral to making those trips happen.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and just, I mean, to hear from the kids and their parents, like they rave about those trips.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_01: So that's a great example.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_01: I'm uh with my music background parcel to uh donations to Auburn Music for Life or just in general buying instruments, um supporting our uh Olympic Middle School Jazz Band.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_01: You want to talk about that for some?
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_00: I would talk about the Olympic Middle School Jazz Band.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um they requested a grant.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_00: Oh gosh, it was probably in 2020.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um they uh Orlin wanted to buy new music for the kids because he felt like the music they were trying to play was still kind of leftover high school music and it wasn't really working for the kids, and he wanted some culturally sensitive music and stuff that the middle schoolers would be able to play.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: And so we he got the grant, it was$1,500.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_00: He purchased uh 20 new pieces of music, gave each of the kids a folder, and because of that, that middle school jazz program has just taken off.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_00: The kids were able to learn how to play music at their level that was groovy, and other kids heard it and saw it and wanted to join jazz band, and because of that one grant, um now Olympic Middle School has two full-on jazz bands.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_00: And I just went to hear them play at a high school event recently, and it was just it was just so great to see them all and hear them.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_00: They sounded great.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for reminding me of that.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_00: I love that story.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_00: That's a great story.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I'm right there with you on that, Brenda.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_01: One thing that I was thinking about so this year's Turkey Trot broke all of the turkey trot fundamentals.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: Raising records, not necessarily in terms of numbers of runners and walkers, but through sponsorships.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's a huge success.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_01: You want to just say a word about that?
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe, maybe thank our business community too?
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I sure do want to thank the business community.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_00: I don't have the list of sponsors in front of me, but for all of you who, you know, donated between$500 and$5,000.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_00: We just so appreciate your support.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_00: And our sponsorship numbers were right around$22,000.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_00: And all of that comes from small business owners, a few individual donations in there, and our number one supporter, Hagen, Groceries.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, they've been very supportive, and I could just rattle off.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I I I think I'm not wanting to fall in the same trap that you're avoiding.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_01: That once you start naming, then you're gonna leave somebody out.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I just count that as a success because to see that list this year, and there were at least two dozen that um, you know, some are longtime supporters, which is awesome, some are new supporters, which is awesome.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_01: And what I've learned from Brenda and this experience uh that could help anybody listening, whether you're raising money for the school foundation or whatever cause is there are people wanting to help.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_01: And it they're just waiting to be asked.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_00: The number one reason people give is because they are asked to give.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_01: And you've been a great model of that, and uh I I just encourage people to reach out, uh, partly because it does good in our community, it does raise funds, but it's also empowering.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_01: Like these are tough times, a lot of people are struggling, it's hard to open, you know, uh the news these days, and yet when when somebody says, Yes, I'll you know, I'll make a personal donation or my business will give a thousand dollars to help kids, it just brightens your day.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_00: It's been real exciting this year.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_00: The response from the community has has really been overwhelming and it makes for a fun board meeting.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_01: So we have asks for the audience.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I made one to come to a board meeting or an event uh and and find a way to be involved in Auburn Schools uh foundation.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I'd like to ask to save the date.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_00: We have a golf tournament fundraiser July 17th.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_00: It will be our second annual.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_00: Uh we it was a huge success last year.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're looking for a way to be introduced to us and participate in an event and donate a little bit of money, meet some of us.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you don't have to wait till July, but if you put July 17th on your calendar, that would be a great opportunity.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_01: Last year uh I didn't actually golf, I volunteered, but I bought a Forsome.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so there's a lot of ways to participate.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_01: We're also looking for sponsors and so forth.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_01: If people want to donate or learn more about getting involved, uh, who do they contact?
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_01: How do they do that?
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um, an easy way to do it is to go to our website, which is auburnpsf.org.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the website, of course, has my email and contact information on it.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_00: Uh you can always call me, Brenda Ellison, email me, I guess I put my email on here, which would be apsf.impact at gmail.com.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_01: Great.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_01: So hopefully uh we'll be hearing from folks.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_01: And I say this at the end always, but let me just say this here.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_01: Please, please spread the word.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_01: Either share this podcast with friends, neighbors, others who might be helpful, uh, or just pick up the phone and call.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_01: And if you even did that with one or two people who maybe you don't have time to be on the board, but you know the person who is passionate about the Auburn schools, you know, reach out.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_01: Or uh if you have somebody who you know is is able to donate to causes and really believes in public education, reach out.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_01: We're we're a great um opportunity.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_01: I'm saying I keep saying we, but I am on the board.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_01: All right, let's um let's put a pin in APSF.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_01: Brenda's done a great job of sharing a little bit about it.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um and we're gonna wrap up this episode of the recess podcast with a question I finish every interview with.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_01: Brenda, what was your favorite thing to do at recess?
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_00: I have to say, spinning around on the bars.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_00: In those days, girls had to wear dresses to school.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_00: And my girl group, we all would wear shorts under our dresses.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_00: You weren't even supposed to do that, but we would do that specifically so we could spin around on the bars.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_00: I can see it like it was yesterday.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, that's great.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_01: How fun normally I encourage people to get out on the playground and do it.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_01: You don't have to uh bow out because you're not in school anymore, but uh uh thinking about uh our ages and spinning around, that might not be the safest thing to do.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_01: Uh but what a great memory.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_01: Brenda, you've been a great guest.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_01: You do amazing work with our school foundation and really helping our our school district and our kids.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I hope that this is helpful in spreading the word about the good work that APSF does.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_01: And so again, I'm just gonna encourage all of our listeners to please uh just tell somebody about something you heard with APSF.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_01: A big part of uh getting the win on this fundraising is that we raise awareness of the foundation and the work they're doing.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so Brenda, thank you so much for sharing those stories.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for inviting me.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_00: And I am always happy to have coffee with anybody who would just want to talk a little bit about who we are and what we do.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_01: Are you buying?
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_00: I am buying, absolutely, I am buying.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_01: All right, you can't beat that offer.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_01: Uh thank you.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_01: My guest has been Brennan Ellison, the president of the Auburn Public Schools Foundation.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_01: This has been the Recess Podcast, a production of the Auburn School District.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks to Vicky Alonzo, who does the production.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_01: And I can't wait to be back for the next episode where I'll see you on the Recess Podcast.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for listening to the first time.