A festive spirit descended upon Saint Mary Catholic Church in Ponca City Saturday, Sept. 30. What would normally would have been a parking lot filled with parishioners’ cars in attendance at the Vigil Mass was instead a parking lot filled with endless tables and chairs and plenty of food, games and activities as the church celebrated Fall Fest, an annual event to celebrate Saint Mary Catholic School and raise funds that are poured back into the classrooms to make the educational experience so much better.
Families left the Mass that evening for games, food and other activities. The Ponca City High School FFA provided their mobile petting zoo as the festival sprawled into surrounding streets and parking lots.
A big draw was an online silent auction, with items donated as part of the fundraising. Even school classes donated items they gathered or created themselves. Several hundred community supporters from all over Kay County came together for the Fall Fest and Saint Mary Catholic School.
The event is organized by the school’s Parent-Teacher Committee (PTC). Gary Carver is the president of the committee and explained why the Fall Fest is important.
“The Fall Fest is to raise money for the PTC to put on events at the school for the kids, like movie night, dance night,” Carver said. “We do Teacher Appreciation Week, Christmas gifts. We also raise money around Christmas time for organizations in need, or families in need.”
The school has a budget that meets the needs of the school, but those funds can only go so far. The PTC meets continual needs of the teachers and staff to make the classroom a better place for education.
“The money is raised by our PTC, and they use it to support the school’s budget, resources that fall outside the school budget,” Principal Wade Laffey said. “Sometimes, there are needs that are overlooked and come up. This is all for the PTC to support the school in those ways.”
Third grade teacher Jamie Steichen has seen what the organization does for the school.
“All the funds raised from the Fall Fest, the PTC uses to improve our school campus, such as new playground equipment for the kids to use on the playground,” Steichen said. “It also helps with anything the teachers need help with – school supplies for the classroom.”
Steichen added that she had been given new materials she has been using in her classroom, which included computers and books.
“The also purchased fun reading books for me to use with my kids,” Steichen said.
Staff members also see a benefit from the Fall Fest.
“To me, the Fall Fest is a great opportunity for us to come together as a school family,” said Leanna Redford, who works in the school office. “It gives us money for supplies for what we have going on.”
The Fall Fest is hardly the only event, or even fundraiser, hosted by the PTC. Another event is the coin drive fundraiser.
“That is where we raise the money for an organization or family in need,” Carver said. “It is called the Bedlam coin drive because we make it about OU and OSU.”
Other events they promote include a back-to-school picnic at the neighboring AMBUCS swimming pool, and a movie night downtown.
“We rent out the Poncan Theater, and use it to do a movie night,” Carver said.
The schools also host teacher appreciation events, Catholic Schools Week and an end of the school year celebration in May. For the school, it is a chance to bring out support from the parish and show its importance in the community.
“Not only is it a fundraiser, it is a fun tradition for people in the parish to not only support the school, but in a family-friendly environment,” Laffey said. “This is something everyone in the community looks forward to.”
Everett Brazil, III is a freelance writer for The Sooner Catholic.