This Saturday evening the Park City Cooperative Preschool is hosting their annual fundraiser at Red Rock Brewery out at Kimball Junction.
The evening will have a silent auction, live auction and opportunity drawings along with a cash bar. Jessica Whiltsee is one of the volunteer parents with the co-op.
“We are hosting our annual fall fundraiser this Saturday November 3rd at Red Rock Brewery." Whiltsee said, "The doors will open at 7:00 pm and the bidding will begin at 7:30 and end at 9:30. We have Deer Valley ski tickets, we have gift cards we have staycations. Lots of local businesses have reached out to us from Ballet West, Baby Neenee, Black Diamond, Cox’s Auto and Tire lots of good stuff.”
The overhead for the preschool is relatively low as they just pay the two teachers and rent for the space they use on the third floor of the Park City Library. Linda Perkins has been teaching at the Park City Cooperative Preschool for nearly two decades.
“19 years now. It’s a parent run organization, so we have just two paid teachers and everything else in the program is handled by volunteer parents." Perkins explained, "We have fundraising done by parents, we have publicity, treasury, all of the administrative work is done by parents. Parents also are engaged by volunteering in the classroom once a month. It’s just a really good model for community engagement and volunteerism. It’s what keeps me there I think, is the volunteer piece of it.”
Perkins says that they work to keep tuition low for students.
“Three and four-year-olds. We can take up to 16 kids in each class. We have a Monday/Wednesday and a Tuesday/Thursday class. We’re not full surprisingly." Perkins continued, "Town has changed, and we do have a space available, so we have a smaller group of parents because our enrollment is low. There’s a lot more choices and I think there’s fewer young families living in town and we’re kind of the in-town preschool. Which is another reason we want to keep our tuition affordable. So that those families that are here can afford a high-quality early childhood education. They’re working really hard, so we want to make sure that we get the word out. We have an alumni base out there and this is open to the public and there is really something for everybody. We’d like you to stop by and check it out.”
The fall fundraiser takes place Saturday evening at Red Rock Brewery. Interested parents can find out more about enrollment here.
