Just For the Kids

Hello Brookside families and welcome to the 2024-2025 school year!

The Brookside PTA is excited for a new school year!  We are developing exciting programming for the 2024/25 school year, and continue to collaborate with our partner in enriching our children's education, the Oak Park Education Foundation, OPEF .

The PTA provides the support that makes Brookside exceptional by funding programs that directly benefit your student.  We help support Brookside’s popular Art Trek program, Student Council, Kindness Crew, field trips, computer, science, and library programs.  We fund programs such as Brookstriders Run Club, Science Fair, Reflections Art Contest, Staff Appreciation Week, and the beloved Jog-a-thon.  And this year we have added Music and Movement for TK/K!

In addition to contributing to our students’ educational experience, our PTA also promotes community engagement nights for Brookside families to foster connection and friendships.  These events include Welcome Back Movie Night, Bingo Night, Restaurant Nights, Family Science Night and Family Carnival and Campout. We capture the school year and all the fun by creating the yearbook. We look forward to a great year ahead filled with fantastic events, community building activities and most importantly, supporting our kids and teachers so they can continue to achieve excellence.  We ask you to join our Just for the Kids Campaign.  This year’s ask is $300 per student.

We give because while a public school education is free, an enriched education is not. The PTA, together with OPEF, encourages you to participate in funding and supporting BOTH.  The PTA strives to enhance our children’s educational experience and to build community and connection to Brookside.  Connection and community are keys to resilience.  OPEF will be enhancing our students’ educational experience by providing music instruction at each of the elementary schools.

As always, the PTA appreciates your support at any level, but we feel the inclusion of a bit of “Brookside Swag” will be an added benefit of donating:

This year's voluntary giving campaign is our most important fundraiser. We hope you will see the value of investing in your child’s education for $25/month.  

Every contribution counts, so please give, give what you can. If you are able to contribute at a higher level, thank you in advance for your generosity!  

ONE-TIME DONATION

Go to the 2024-2025 PTA Welcome Back post in ParentSquare to donate as a one-time lump-sum payment.  

MONTHLY PAYMENT PLAN

Using PayPal, take advantage of our ten-month installment plan for CUB, TIGER and STRIPES Levels by selecting one of the options below:  

NOTE: Both one-time donations and ten-month installment plan payments will receive Brookside swag based on donation level. 

All voluntary donations are tax-deductible. Brookside PTA Tax ID #95–6203985

CORPORATE MATCHING

There are over 1,000 different companies that offer matching gift programs, including Aerojet Rocketdyne, Amgen, Apple, Bank of America, Boeing, Microsoft, NBC Universal, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Starbucks, Wells Fargo and more...! Your donation may qualify for Corporate Matching;  please consult your company's HR department or tax advisor on the company-specific process.

In order to deliver a high-quality education experience for students at Brookside, we depend on the voluntary donations for our Just for the Kids campaign. All our students will receive the same opportunities, experiences, and/or materials regardless of whether a contribution is made. In addition, if we do not raise the anticipated amount set aside for the budget this year, the PTA will have to cut back on extra opportunities that help make the experience special for our students.