A sandwich board for the Park City Education Foundation's Beat The Call fundraising campaign for the Park City School District. Photo: Michele Roepke

PARK CITY, Utah. — Beat The Call is a play on words meaning make a donation during the two-week fundraising campaign before receiving a phone call from a representative of the Park City Education Foundation (PCEF) imploring you to do so. The decades-old annual event has taken on a decidedly 2021 vibe as a text may go out as likely as a call, but the idea is the same.

Jen Billow, the Executive Director of PCEF said, “As an essential partner of the School District, we raise funds for initiatives that inspire all students to reach their academic and lifelong potential. We can’t do it, however, without the generous support of community stakeholders from which we are enthused, empowered, and eternally grateful.”

The Park City School District (PCSD) has four elementary schools, a middle school, a jr. high, and a high school. Additionally, it runs a child care center, preschools, a learning center, and a project-based professional studies program (PCCAPS).

Beat The Call (BTC) is the Fall event of the PCEF trifecta wherein Winter has the Red Apple Gala and Spring has Running With Ed.

Two of many Beat The Call lawn signs around school properties and neighborhoods. Photo: Michele Roepke

Anyone and everyone are encouraged to donate prior to September 24 whether they have children currently in the PCSD or have children at all.

PCEF makes donating a no-brainer with many ways to participate:

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Seal cash or a check in the envelope sent home with students and send it back with students
Scan QR codes on lawn signs, on sandwich boards, online, or on the envelopes
Hand cash or check to a school front office administrator

Still have questions? Just ask one of the parent volunteer ambassadors. You can’t miss them these two weeks, they’re the often-costumed ones standing/pacing/dancing/waving in the pick-up and drop-off zones of the schools.

The suggested amount is $180 per student, per year which mathematically represents one dollar for every day of the school year.

Within each individual school, the one class that garners the highest amount of students whose families donate wins a class pizza party. A discount on the pizzas is provided by Red Banjo Pizza.

Classes compete against each other for the pizza while schools compete against each other for thousands of dollars in grants from the UPS Stores of Park City.

Banner at a Park City school. Photo: Michele Roepke

Programs funded by PCEF include:

Preschool

Elementary Visual Arts (EVA)

Afterschool K-9

STEM programs

PCHS Center for Advanced Professional Studies (PCCAPS)

Bright Futures

Classroom & Express Grants

Student/Teacher Idea Lab

Within these eight core initiatives are more than 100 grants funded by PCEF donors. Last year PCEF also funded basic needs assistance to student and PCSD employee families as well as an educator wellness program. Donate to Beat The Call by clicking here.