Remembering Reese- Annual Fundraiser for Students

For those of you who are learning about Reese for the first time, you can read her story here.

3rd Grade

You have the routine down by now. You jump with joy seeing your Grandma’s face sitting in the passenger seat as I pull up to summer camp. I sign you and your siblings out early to take you “back to school shopping” with me and her. A tradition I used to do as a kid late in the summer, too. The memories of this tradition passed along to you.

Life is short, we never save the best for last so we start by shoe shopping. Trying shoes a whole size bigger than you were last year. A realization that brings both shock and a smile to my face. Your brothers tell you the shoes you picked out are “cringe” and your little sister secretly wishes she was in the big kid sizes, too, so she could match you. As we line up to pay, your Grandma surprises each of you and lets you pick out a couple of Jibbitz for your sad looking Crocs that haven’t fared those summer months as well as the freckles on your cheeks and your copper hair braided down the middle of your back.

Off clothes shopping we go. Your brothers both sigh with annoyance of the thought but not you. You already have your first day of school outfit planned. You’ve been talking about it for weeks. A denim overall skirt from Target, animal print tights, your black buckled shoes and a flower shirt to top it off. I agree, the outfit choice sounds perfect but we may not be able to pull it off and we are NOT running all over to try and find this dream outfit of yours. That doesn’t stop you from hoping though. And almost as if you worked with the fall-clothing merchandise Gods, you find it all. Everything down to the animal print tights. “Are you magic?” I wonder, a thought that has been confirmed countless times before. Typically, when I have my heart set on something, I can’t find it anywhere. Must be that "Duffy luck" that you and your siblings have when the complex comes effortlessly.

We cap the day off with a dinner trip to Noodles & Co. The only restaurant where you and your siblings can ALL find something to eat on the menu. Talk about magic. 4 Wisconsin Mac & Cheeses, two kids meals and the other two adult meals, one for you and your older brother. Your little brother and sister squabble stating the injustice in this but you’ve proven yourself ready to be promoted off the kids menu just in time for 3rd grade. A rite of passage. Much like graduating from the lower level of the school with the 1st and 2nd graders to the top level. Mingling with 4th & 5th graders, a chance sighting of your older brother, the thought excites you, but not him. You’ve made it in more ways than one and you are ready.

Every detail of this afternoon absolutely happened minus the parts where you were in it. Grandma Nancy and I took your brothers and sister school shopping. Your brothers called your little sister out on her shoe choice but that didn’t stop her. Jibbitz were purchased, complaints were made about clothes shopping and your little sister found the perfect denim overall skirt down to the floral shirt, animal print tights and black buckled shoes. This outfit comes in your size, too. I imagine you being the best big sister to Maeda. A sister that loves dressing up in matching outfits. A sister that prepares her baby sister for 1st grade in a new school and who will sit with her on the bus the first day to make the transition from kindergarten to first grade a bit easier. I dream of you walking through the front doors of the school, entering a space that has been absent of you for far too long and with a big smile on your face you begin greeting the friends and teachers that you’ve missed and who have missed you. And just like that, you are with your community, exactly where you belong. Welcome back to school, Reese.

If you follow me on social media you may know I find Reese in nature. Purple wildflowers, monarch butterflies, the stillness of the morning and the falling leaves of the Fall. Each season brings a new version of connection. When the large, slow falling snowflakes appear on a calm evening in the winter, I feel her. When the snow begins to melt and run down the streets sparking the beginning days of spring, I see her. When the summer sun heats up the air and the curls return to my hair (a pregnancy side effect she blessed me with and still continues to this day) I know she is present. Being outside has always grounded me. Stepping outside can soften the constant noise that the 4 walls of a building can hold, opening the door to creativity. Brushing the grass with our hands can help grasp the familiar when new concepts seem like too much. Deep breaths of fresh air can release the weight of a mundane school day, offering a much needed reset, a reset that may help make the day more bearable.

This year’s fundraiser is different. It’s two parts. It pulls in nature AND play. Creativity all around. Our long term goal is to create an outdoor classroom (this is just an example, not the final product) to be completed in Reese’s 5th grade year. Dedicating it to her as a send off of sorts as she would begin her journey into middle school the following year, a chance for a new fundraiser. For the next three years, we will fundraise for this long term goal but each year will have another component, benefiting her peers in the present.

This year, our overall goal is $8,000 with $2,000 of that goal going to fund a field trip to Stages Theatre Company to see the play “The Day You Begin ” in October. The money will cover the tickets, transportation, a copy of the book for each student and a meet and greet of the author. Each copy of the book will have a Reese sticker, like what we used in previous years for the book donation. The remaining money will go towards the outdoor classroom.

Let's start long term fundraising for a space that fosters creativity, grounding and learning, all things that Reese has gifted me with and get Reese's classmates to the theatre!