A time to educate students about the importance of the Peddie Fund and thank generous donors who support our school, Peddie Fund Week (PFW) gathered the community together during the week of Feb. 8. Peddie student ambassadors worked hard to schedule times for writing postcards, collecting donations, and writing emails to send out to the student body. This year’s PFW period lasted three days, fewer days than past years, but was the most successful week to date.

Prior to PFW, student ambassadors met with the development office to determine the best way to teach the Peddie community about the Peddie Fund and increase student participation in support for it. Posters highlighting the importance of giving back were made and hung up around school for students to read on their way to class. The ambassadors also devised a plan to break the week into 3 days: day one was about awareness and education, day two was about donor appreciation, and finally day three was about student participation.

On day one, of PFW, students were encouraged to post pictures on social media using the hashtag #thxpeddiefund about why they love Peddie. At lunch, student ambassadors distributed fact snacks, goodie bags filled with candy and facts about what the Peddie Fund pays for.

Day two started out with a morning email encouraging all students to write thank you postcards to donors during their free time. At DMX and lunchtime, the student ambassadors recruited their peers to take a few minutes to write a thoughtful note to a donor, thanking them for supporting Peddie and all the school has to offer.

Finally, on Day three, students were asked to give back to their school and make their own donations to the Peddie Fund during breakfast and lunch.

Deanna Harkel, who works with the student ambassadors and in the development office, was extremely pleased with the efforts students made to support the fund.

“Our goal is student participation. Last year, 27 percent of the student population made a participatory Peddie Fund gift. This year, 36 percent of the students participated,” Harkel said. “I think the students understood that it was not about how much they donated, but rather that they gave something, no matter the gift amount.”

“This year’s Peddie Fund Week was a success due to the great work and enthusiasm from all of the student body, but especially from the Student Ambassadors.” Katie Clark ’16, a student ambassador agreed with Harkel. “I especially loved the inspirational quotes hung on signs around campus. They encouraged students to really think about why participating in Peddie Fund Week is so important.”

The incentive for students to actively participate in PFW came with a prize in the form of a class pizza party. The four grades competed against each other for the party and the grade with the most participation won. Each social media post and written postcard counted as one point whereas a donation was worth five. At the end of the third day, the sophomore class of 2018 won the pizza prize with a whopping 677 points.

In total, the student body wrote 1,000 post cards, had 198 donations, and raised $704.52 for the Peddie Fund.