Walkathon a big hit

EDITOR:

On behalf of the Meneley parent-teacher organization, we would like to extend our deepest gratitude to everyone who helped to make our first walkathon "Walking on Sunshine" a huge success. Our school earned nearly $17,000 to help pay for things like assemblies, classroom allowances, scholarships, and academic clubs and competitions to name a few. The event was a fundraiser as well as a healthy kickoff and school community building event for the new school year. It could not have been possible without the hard work of the students, staff, parents, and community members.

First and foremost among our volunteers was Bill McClain, who donated his DJ and emcee talent, making the event energetic and smooth flowing.

We would like to thank the overwhelming generosity of our school's business partner Pam Pugliese at City National Bank for the generous donation of seven bicycles for the top earners per grade level! Larry Lampkin of Walmart generously donated a helmet to go with each of the bikes!

A special thanks goes out to Carson Valley Medical Center and the Cocking family for their cash contributions. Dentists Dr. Gray and Dr. D'Ascoli donated toothbrushes and Tumbleweeds Gymnastics donated a free class for all participants.

Additional thanks goes out to the following businesses and/or families who also donated prizes or services for our Walkathon:

All About Dance, Big 5, Blockbuster, Inc., Craighead family, Children's Museum of Northern Nevada, Costco, Carson Valley Swim Center, Felix Pottery, Ironwood Cinema, Keva Juice, Dodd family, Rite Aid, Scheel's, Staples, Tumbleweeds, Wild Island, and Matt Kruse and Allison Ramsey-Kruse (event photographers).

One last special thanks to all the "behind the scenes" people: all of the parent volunteers (too many to list), Paul Marquez and Mike Ivie and the rest of the set-up and break-down crews, Karena Merrithew and Julie Michel for creating and including student artwork in the commons banner, So. Tahoe Middle School for loaning us their flagging banners, and all who helped make "Walking on Sunshine" such a fun and worthwhile event for the Meneley Mountain Lions.

Monique Vaughn and Manya Brooks

Walkathon committee co-chairs