Recent ActivityThe HSA supports BF activities and provides additional enrichment to the school program. We encourage parental involvement at all levels. You make it possible for the HSA to promote the welfare of all students, maximizing opportunities for their physical, mental, and social development.
HSA meetings are held each month. These meetings are open to all BF parents/guardians. We encourage all to attend.
We always need volunteers. Take a look at our volunteering opportunities and consider donating some of your time. BF needs your help!
BF HSA News BF HSA News
As most of you already know, Spirit Night is a much anticipated event for the entire school body. BF students in all grades come for an evening of fun and entertainment in an indoor carnival-like atmosphere. There will be a DJ and dancing, large play equipment, video games, tattoo and nail polish station, ping-pong and lots of surprise activities. Spirit Night will be March 26th, so mark your calendars! The event will take place from 7:30-9:30 p.m. As in the fall, tickets will be sold in the cafeteria during lunch for $12.00, dates to be announced. The price at the door will be $15.00. Payment can be made by cash (exact change is appreciated!) or check made out to BF HSA. Students should bring some money with them for the food court and for the photo booth; $5.00 - $10.00 will be enough. Thank you to all who have already signed up to chaperone for the evening. This event would not be possible without help from many (Moms and Dads both), and we thank you in advance for your help in making this a special and memorable evening for your children. For those of you who have children who say they don't want you to chaperone, you can assure them that there are enough activities and places to be that they probably won't even see you!! If you are chaperoning, please arrive by 7:00 p.m. and check in in the parents’ room in the cafeteria. You will be given your assignments when you arrive. Your children can come with you at that time and check-in in the lobby. Everyone is asked to enter the building through the corner door of the parking lot marked with balloons. No student should come on a bike or scooter as it will be dark when they are leaving. Dismissal will be through the cafeteria doors starting at 9:30 p.m. We ask parents to pick their children up. No student will be allowed to walk home. Do try to carpool--we expect over 450 students, so pick-up and drop-off are crowded. Please tell your child/children that this is a school sponsored event and they are expected to respect school property. This is an event for BF students only. Thank you again for your cooperation. We are looking forward to a fun night! If you are available Friday, March 26th, please email Sarah-Kate Maskin. All other questions, please email Nancy Kennedy or Ellen McGuire.
We are actively seeking donations to the BF silent auction at Hawes “Ladies Night” held in April!!! Please think of any item or talent to donate for this fund raising opportunity! 100% of the proceeds will directly support and enhance our children’s educational and classroom experience! Thank you in advance for your generosity! Some items we've already collected include FORCE training sessions and an ice cream/frozen yogurt machine. Email Angele Ekert or call 774-3487
Get involved—make a difference! The BF HSA Executive Board needs you! Interested in serving on the Executive Board or know someone you would like to recommend? Please contact the nominating committee chair Ann Cabay-Walsh. We are looking to fill the following positions for the 2010-2011 school year: President, Vice President, and Treasurer. Make a difference in your child’s Middle School experience! Please consider yourself or a friend!
The BFHSA & BF Media Center invite you to celebrate your child’s years at BF with a Library Legacy in their honor. It’s been three fabulous years at BF! How quickly they’ve flown by. Here’s your chance to cherish their years at BF by leaving a library book in their honor for future BF students to enjoy. It's as easy as 1-2-3:
A personalized bookplate will be created and placed inside the book you have selected and your child will be the first to take this book out of the library to enjoy. We hope you will take advantage of this wonderful new program. Not only will you be recognizing and celebrating your child, but many others will enjoy your gift for years to come. Thank you in advance for your generosity. Any further questions, please contact Mrs. Rothschild at the BF library or Marla Sherman at 444-9788.
The Learning Services HSA invites you to Lord & Taylor’s Shop Smart\Do Good event on Thursday, April 8, 2010 at the Fashion Center from 9:00 a.m.–10:00 p.m. Shop all day while supporting the LSHSA! Lord & Taylor will be hosting this fundraiser—an exclusive day filled with special events and savings at The Fashion Center. As part of the celebration, Lord & Taylor is giving our organization an opportunity to raise money. Here’s how it works… We are one of several non-profit groups participating in the sale of $5 admission tickets to Lord & Taylor’s Shop Smart\Do Good event. We retain all the proceeds from our ticket sales The Shop Smart\Do Good event offers…
**New** Order tickets online starting February 24th. There will be a drop down box where you can choose Learning Services Home and School as your charity. Order by April 3rd to get them in time for the event. They will be delivered to your home via UPS. If you’d like a ticket to this event, please email Liz Dunn or fill out this form and mail with your check to: LSHSA c/o Board of Education, 49 Cottage Place, Ridgewood. Make your check payable to LSHSA.
We need your help. Traditionally, the BF HSA has done little or no fundraising and the lack of extra funds is probably obvious to many of you. After polling many parents, we have determined that there is strong support for an annual fundraising drive to benefit BF. Therefore, we have created the Friends of BF. The mission of the Friends of BF is to raise funds to enhance the educational experience for all of the students at Benjamin Franklin Middle School. The monies raised will have an immediate and valuable impact on every student. The Special Fundraising Committee works directly with our principal, Tony Orsini, to identify worthy expenditures that will not be funded through other channels in the school system. In our inaugural year, we hope to raise enough money to begin upgrading the main student areas of the library and cafeteria, as well as to continue the work in progress in the auditorium and the BFBN studio. All of your generous donations will be deposited in a dedicated account and are tax-deductible. Our children are very lucky to be a part of the BF community. In 2007-2008, parents built a new stage for the BFBN studio and painted and redecorated the Nurse’s office. The members of Dad's Night gifted BF with much-needed spotlights for the auditorium. The auditorium will receive additional upgrades from the money raised from the Razzle-Dazzle Talent Show(s). Won’t you please become a Friend of BF today? If every family contributed just $20.00, we could raise over $12,000.00 for our children and BF! To contribute, please fill out this form. Thank you for your support.
BF Cares is looking for your help! We are pleased to be available to provide meals, transportation and related help to those in our community unfortunate enough to need this kindness. Please contact Jo Marie Quinn, BF Cares Chair, indicating your willingness to help out. Thanks in advance for your stepping in to help!
Starting October 9, 2009 through March 25, 2010, BF will have the opportunity to earn money through the Stop & Shop A+ Bonus Bucks Program. All you have to do is log on to www.stopandshop.com/aplus to register online or dial 877-275-2758 to register your card over the phone. After you register your card, each shopping trip to Stop & Shop using your Stop & Shop Card earns money for our school! Each month, the amount awarded will be updated on the Stop & Shop website. You can track the amount of points you earn for our school by checking your grocery receipt and online when you create an account at Stop & Shop. BF will receive a check at the end of the program. Please be sure to register your card to benefit Benjamin Franklin Middle School using ID #07478. Also, don’t forget to encourage your friends and relatives to do the same.
In the last two school years, Benjamin Franklin Middle School, George Washington Middle School, Travell, Orchard and Willard Elementary Schools and Ridgewood High School participated in the Rural School Project in Cambodia, raising money to build a school. Their efforts have succeeded and the children are enjoying their new school located in the Khsach Kandal district of the Kandal province in Cambodia. It is about 50 kilometers from Phnom Penh and can only be reached by crossing the Mekong River by ferry. It takes about two hours to reach the school. Read more about the project at the GW website and read a letter from the students here.
People of the Book: A Novel From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of March, the journey of a rare illuminated manuscript through centuries of exile and war. In 1996, Hanna Heath, an Australian rare-book expert, is offered the job of a lifetime: analysis and conservation of the famed Sarajevo Haggadah, which has been rescued from Serb shelling during the Bosnian war. Priceless and beautiful, the book is one of the earliest Jewish volumes ever to be illuminated with images. When Hanna, a caustic loner with a passion for her work, discovers a series of tiny artifacts in its ancient binding—an insect wing fragment, wine stains, salt crystals, a white hair—she begins to unlock the book's mysteries. The reader is ushered into an exquisitely detailed and atmospheric past, tracing the book's journey from its salvation back to its creation. In Bosnia during World War II, a Muslim risks his life to protect it from the Nazis. In the hedonistic salons of fin-de-siècle Vienna, the book becomes a pawn in the struggle against the city's rising anti-Semitism. In inquisition-era Venice, a Catholic priest saves it from burning. In Barcelona in 1492, the scribe who wrote the text sees his family destroyed by the agonies of enforced exile. And in Seville in 1480, the reason for the Haggadah's extraordinary illuminations is finally disclosed. Hanna's investigation unexpectedly plunges her into the intrigues of fine art forgers and ultra-nationalist fanatics. Her experiences will test her belief in herself and the man she has come to love. Inspired by a true story, People of the Book is at once a novel of sweeping historical grandeur and intimate emotional intensity, an ambitious, electrifying work by an acclaimed and beloved author. For more information about the BF Book Group, see our web page.
The SAVERS program at Regent Cleaners is designed to sell gift certificates that you can either give away as gifts or that you can use yourself at the Regent Cleaners on Chestnut Street for your everyday dry cleaning. To support the Ben Franklin Middle School's fundraising efforts, they will donate 20% of the total dollar amount purchased to the HSA. Also, they will add a 10% bonus amount on the gift certificates. For example: if you purchase a $100 gift certificate, you pay $100 but receive a $110 gift certificate. If you have any questions, please contact Melissa Bourn. The deadline for ordering is the 15th of the month. Your gift certificates will be available for pick up at Regent Cleaners the following week. (Free Parking/Valet Parking) Please fill out this order form and return it to the main office. Please note on the envelope: Regent Cleaners/BF HSA. Make checks payable to BFMS HSA.
We are happy to announce a new partner in our fundraising efforts. Federated Home and School Association has joined TD Bank’s* Affinity Program which provides us with an opportunity to earn annual cash donations from TD Bank. We are thrilled with how easy it is to participate in this program and there is no cost to do so. Here’s how it works: TD Bank will donate a percentage of the annual balance in every one of our members’ accounts. No withdrawal is made from your account; TD Bank donates its own funds based on your balance. Checking, savings, money market, CDs and retirement accounts are all included! Also, there is no limit on the amount of our potential donation! (All balances are confidential; only TD Bank will have that information.) Here’s how you can help: If you already have a TD Bank account, just call any office and tell a Customer Service Representative you would like your account linked to our Affinity Membership Program. That’s it……..TD Bank will take care of the rest. * Formerly known as Commerce Bank
Do your shopping at Amazon by clicking through this site and support our school! Tell your friends and family too--anyone can help! Here's how: before you go directly to Amazon.com for your purchases, please visit this website first. Click on the links above or any other link on this site and BF will receive a percentage of your purchase (check out our Book Group page for some excellent reading choices!). There are no forms to fill out, no surveys to take, no hassles whatsoever! Just click through this website, shop ’til you drop, and support BF!
If you haven't subscribed to the HSA and school eNews yet, please take a minute to do so now. Click on a link below and an email will open. Then just click 'Send' and you're done! Subscribe using the HSA link below and then whichever link is appropriate for your student(s). Once you have done this you will begin to receive notices regularly. For those of you leaving us for the high school, you may unsubscribe using the following links: HSA, School. Please note: Once you have subscribed you will receive eNews until you have unsubscribed. There is no need to re-subscribe each school year. If you have a problem, please contact Linda Willk.
Click on the seal to learn more about it. Benjamin Franklin Middle School 335 North Van Dien Avenue, Ridgewood, NJ 07450 School Hours: 8:00 a.m.-2:53 p.m. Minimum Days: 8:00 a.m.-12:15 p.m. Absence Verification Line: 670-2700, extension 30699 GO RED SOX!!! Webmaster: Linda Willk |
, by Geraldine Brooks (384 pages)
Parents' Book Group
