It’s a wrap! Cornerstone has finished up one of our most successful fundraisers in our 40-year history. The success of our Feed the Need fundraising campaign can be measured in more than just dollars raised, although we did work together to raise more than $85,000 (well over our initial goal of $45,000). This year we contracted with a well-established fundraising group, The Champion Group (TCG), to help us take our fundraising to a whole new level beyond our usual brochure drive. The guidance we received was invaluable and resulted in us making the one of the highest net profits of any single fundraiser in our school’s history.
Beyond the financial gain from our Feed the Need fundraiser, our greatest success came from focusing on service first. We used the first fruit
of our funds raised to pack 10,000+ meals for the hungry, both locally and in Haiti. On November 16, our students paired up in their partner grades, with each student present that day playing an important role in packaging the meals. We experienced worldwide missions in our very own gym!
The afternoon of our packing event, we gave 1,200 meals to New Song Ministries, a street ministry that ministers to the homeless and needy in Hartford, Manchester, and Willimantic. The morning after our packing event, a team of early bird volunteers packed our pallet of 8,640 meals to be shipped to Haiti. Tammy Choleva, our Director of Fundraising & Event Planning also delivered 240 meals to The Bridge, a food
pantry in South Windsor. The Bridge is an
outreach ministry of Our Savior Lutheran Church (OSLC) in South Windsor, pastored by one of our CCS parents, Pastor Randall Pekari.
Another immeasurable Feed the Need success was the amazing media coverage arranged by our Director of Marketing & Communications, Ed Main. During the early hours of our packing event, our gym was buzzing with media activity from multiple outlets, including NBC CT, Fox61, and WTNH (channel 8). It was fun to watch the resulting news clips and to read the news articles, highlighting our Feed the Need mission and our school!
In addition to raising money, feeding the hungry, and receiving media coverage, our school spirit was elevated throughout the Feed the Need campaign every time we unlocked new levels of fun via school-wide celebrations and Staff Sillies. Students and parents enjoyed meeting in the field on Friday prize tent days to share in the
fun of watching fulfilled Staff Sillies such as eating crickets,
crazy dress-up,
Tweety Bird
chicken dancing,
a human sundae,
sliming and Silly
Stringing staff,
Sumo wrestling,
duct taping,
habanero pepper
eating, blueberry
pie eating, and (continued on next page)
DECEMBER 2021
THE LION'S ROAR
3
FEED THE NEED 2021
GOLD SPONSOR