The 15th annual Holiday Bazaar, a joint effort of the Robbinsville High School Parent Teacher Student Association and Robbinsville Education Foundation, kicked off the holiday season while raising funds.
by James McEvoy, Managing Editor
ROBBINSVILLE — The 15th annual Holiday Bazaar, a joint effort of the Robbinsville High School Parent Teacher Student Association and Robbinsville Education Foundation, kicked off the holiday season while raising funds for education.
The event, held Nov. 24 at Pond Road Middle School, included a variety of vendors at an adult craft show, pictures with Santa, several musical performances by students and more.
Among the student performers included second graders from Sharon Elementary School, the Robbinsville High School Raven Regiment Marching Band, the Pond Road Middle School Jr. Jazz Performance Ensemble and the Pond Road Middle School Choir.
In addition, the Early Act Club collected new hats, gloves, scarves, and mittens, for their coat drive.
The event also featured the eighth grade’s signature fundraiser — the Food Court — that served breakfast and lunch, the profits of which contribute to the student’s end of the year activities.
Sharon Devito, board of education member and liaison to the Robbinsville Education Foundation, said the event is about students and for students.
”It’s a community event. It showcases our children’s talent throughout the day,” Ms. Devito said. “It gives you a snapshot of the holiday season.”
Debbie Baer, vice president of the foundation, agreed, noting while other foundation events raise more money, the event is just as much, if not more, about bringing the people together during the holiday season to benefit students’ education.
”We get to bring the community together through school activities and then we get to turn that back around and give money to teachers through a grant program,” Ms. Baer said, adding that the foundation also hold an annual golf outing and casino night in the speak to further raise funds to benefit education.
One recent example of a teacher’s grant is a three-year commitment with the pre-engineering program known as Project Lead the Way to the middle school.
Apart from benefiting students, the program also helps with the robotics team, which has experienced success in recent years.
John Sturgeon, whose brought his family to the bazaar for the last ten years or so, said the event offers a large variety of holiday activities and attractions.
”There’s a lot of things to see and do,” Mr. Sturgeon said. “It’s definitely something we look forward to as the beginning of the holiday season.”
For more information visit www.refkids.org