Pilgrim Lutheran School News
November 8, 2019
Cocktails for a Cause...
...is tonight at the Atlantic Bar and Grill (5062 N Lincoln Ave) from 6-10 p.m.. Unwind and celebrate the Legacy of Dave Maring, Pilgrim principal, teacher and coach.
The party starts at 6:30 p.m. $40 per person ticket includes select beers and wine, food, and fun!!! The evening features great raffle prizes--an Italian meal basket, drinks baskets, games from Mrs. Halter, and many other items—and a chance to catch up with Dave Maring. Tell your friends, meet us after work, stay till 10 to enjoy. All proceeds go to the Dave Maring School Endowment Fund which underwrites tuition assistance, professional development for teachers and special school projects.
See you there Pilgrim!
Report Cards
Report Cards for Pilgrim students in Grades 4-8 are released today, Friday, November 8. The first quarter officially ended last week. Parents can check SIS for academic progress anytime! If you have questions about the grades, please contact your child’s homeroom teacher. If you cannot get into SIS, please contact Halley Williams at office@pilgrimchicago.org. Lower grade students (Pre-K through 3rd grade) get printable grade reports twice per year in January and June. Upper grade students (4th -8th grade) get report cards 4 times per year.
Veteran's Day
The students of Mrs. Gates’ second and third grade class invite you to join them as they honor our nation’s Veterans on Wednesday, November 13th at 10:10am. All are welcome to attend this special chapel service located in Pilgrim’s sanctuary. If you, a family member, or close friend are a Veteran and can attend, please RSVP to this event by emailing Mrs. Gates at kgates@pilgrimchicago.org. In your RSVP, please include your branch of service, rank, years served, and a picture if possible. All Veteran’s are invited to a special reception following the service in the ⅔ classroom where you will be interviewed by a student in the class.
Pilgrim Sports
Congratulations to our Boys Volleyball Team! The boys went to the Lutheran School League state tournament in Springfield last weekend. This was only the 2nd time Pilgrim had ever qualified for State play. The boys played great, with high-scoring matches that always came down to the last minutes of the 3rd game of each match. The team came in a very respectable 8th place. Our young team looks forward to going back next year with better knowledge of how to play the tournament and possible take 1st! Many thanks to all the parents who supported this overnight trip to the state’s Capitol, and special thanks to Coaches Wende Niforatos and Robert Knapp. This was a super season for both boys and girls teams. We hope both teams make the trip downstate next year.
Basketball season for 5th/6th Graders is in full swing! The Pilgrim Boys teams have already played two winning games. The next game is Tuesday, November 12, at St. Paul (Austin), and the girls team begins play soon. Lots of hard play is going into these games! Thanks to the coaches and all the parents who get their students to practices and games on time! If you would like more information about Pilgrim sports, contact our Athletic Director, Angela Cardo at acardo@pilgrimchicago.org. Feel free to come out and support the teams!!!
Shop for Pilgrim
Coat Angels
Calling All Angels! November is the month for Pilgrim’s annual coat drive to support the work of Coat Angels, a Chicago nonprofit that provides coats, fleece, hats and gloves to children who are in need of warmth during the long, cold winter months.
This year Coat Angels has made a special request: They are in great need of fleece like the one pictured here. They need all sizes/all colors but have an increased demand for boys sizes 10-12. So, how can you help?
- Make a donation of any amount of money towards this project. Remember, no amount is too small. If you donate $50, that will buy a child a complete set (coat, fleece, hat and gloves) and you will receive a special gift tag to give as a gift this year to a loved one.
- Buy a new fleece and/or new kids coat and donate it to Pilgrim’s collection. Drop donations in the church parlor by December 1st.
Donations (cash or checks payable to Pilgrim School, with Coat Angels in the memo) will be accepted in the School Office and after 10:30 am church services on Sundays during the month of November. Remember, if you purchase a gift card from Anne Barsano and our CIP program, Pilgrim also gets a percentage of your donation. It's all so easy!
Finally, a Pilgrim group will be helping Coat Angels at their sorting and bagging facility on Sunday, November 24th from 12:30 pm to 3 pm. They can only accommodate 8 adults (adult = 14 years old and up), so if you are interested please sign up here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/9040D4BA9A62EA7FE3-coat
Questions: contact Lori Kraft-Shores at kraftlori95@gmail.com. As an 8th grade
mom, Lori is looking for someone to take over the coordination of this service project for next year. “Training” now would make for an easy transition. Please contact Lori if interested.
PTL News
In lieu of the PTL's November meeting, Pilgrim parents are encouraged to attend our Timeless Toys shopping event on Thursday, November 21st.
We are looking for volunteers! We are changing up The Winter Carnival this year and are looking for a lead coordinator. The coordinator will have full support of PTL leadership and the efforts will be on-going until the event is completed and will require meetings. We are also looking for someone to coordinate this year's in-school field trip. The in-school field trip can be researched on volunteer's personal time. It would be beneficial if the coordinator could attend the in-school field trip, but it is not a mandate. Finally, the PTL is looking for a volunteer to take over the greenery sale next year. This event is CRUCIAL to the PTL meeting its budget needs and can largely be done on one's own time. This year's greenery will be distributed on December 8th at the annual Dad's Pancake Breakfast. Our long-time leader, Carrie Goerne, has a student at Pilgrim for another year, therefore, this volunteer opportunity comes with a mentor! Thank you Carrie!
The PTL recognizes that parents have a lot on their plates. If you are interested in one of the above positions, fear not! Volunteers are welcome to drop in and out of PTL monthly meetings and volunteer opportunities as their schedules/interest allows.
Please contact Shellie Riedle at shellieriedle@yahoo.com or Alison Hays at alisonmhays@gmail.com with any questions or suggestions.
BOE
Pilgrim Board of Education met on Tuesday night. As Pilgrim looks ahead to our centennial, the School Board has started a rich discussion about tuition, fees, fundraising and development. If you would like to be part of this discussion, please contact Board Chair Bianka Hardin or Principal Comella. The School Board is deeply concerned about keeping Pilgrim affordable while still providing top-notch educational services and fair wages for our teachers. The School Board meets again on December 3 to vote on next year’s tuition.
Pilgrim Dad's Pancake Breakfast
Join us Sunday, December 8th for a delicious breakfast of pancakes, eggs, bacon, sausage and more. All of this will be cooked and served by our very own Pilgrim Dads.
All proceeds will go towards Pilgrim Kids Care. Kids Care was started by our students when they felt called to help victims of Hurricane Katrina. This fund continues to help our student service learning projects today, stockings for the food pantry and our trip to Feed My Starving Children, just to name a few.
The Kiss Game, with candy kisses, will happen again this year! A fun game for kids to win prizes! Bring your coins!
When: December 8, 2019
Where: Pilgrim Lutheran Church and School - Maring Hall
What: All you can eat, suggested donation of $5 per person at the door
1st Serving at 9:00 AM & 2nd Serving at 11:30 AM. Eat a hearty breakfast before or after the 10:30 am Worship service when Pilgrim's Gospel Kids (PK-3rd Grade) will sing. See you there Pilgrim!
Sulzer Family Foundation
For the 46th Year, Pilgrim has received a grant from the Sulzer Family Foundation. This year’s award is $3,000 and must be spent on innovative programming at Pilgrim. Many thanks are due to the Sulzer Family Foundation for their support of Pilgrim! We are using Sulzer grant for a program to teach executive functioning skills to our 4th Graders and to select groups of other upper grade students. These programs truly help students be successful in school and life beyond. If you have any questions, please contact the School Office.
Raffle! Auction!! Sponsorships!!!
Plans are underway for Pilgrim’s major fundraisers of 2019-2020, and we need your help. Pilgrim Parent, Tarah Dickerson, has agreed to chair the major fundraiser campaigns this program year. Tara Karmin, Sara Witt, Joel Heiniger, Pastor Kristian, Principal Comella and a host of Pilgrim parents are also on the committee. We have started to contact families who indicated interest to help with fundraising on their registration forms. As the Season of Giving begins, we hope that you will be generous with your time and talents. Contact Tarah Dickerson for more details, tdickerson15@hotmail.com .
Art Club
Mrs. Stewart has a special offer for 3-8 Art Club! She has a few more spots open and is offering a discount code for those who still want to join but missed the first class . Enter ART25 when you register before next week's Thursday class for $25 off.
She has one spot left in the Pre.-2 Art Club. Join now, registration closes soon and class begins Monday! Don’t miss this exciting opportunity to create together.
Gift Cards
Gift cards will be sold on our regular schedule, Sundays, Mondays and Fridays. An even easier way is to use your phone to find "cards" to download in line at the store for your exact amount of purchase, send to others by email or print for gifting or your own use by going to www.benefit-mobile.com/causes/pilgrim-lutheran-church-and-school. Register with Pilgrim 60613 and pay with your bank account or a credit card and Pilgrim still benefits. Pilgrim has earned $125.21 so far this year, with a few people using Benefit-Mobile. Please contact Anne Barsano at 312-972-9040, cbarsano@aol.com or 773-472-6037 with ??
Thank you to everyone who is using smile.amazon.com. Pilgrim earned $52.63 last quarter ($1,110.13 total since joining) with your help. Others can sign up and all your benefits from Amazon.com will transfer to your account with smile.amazon.com.
Join us for Worship
Pilgrim Junior and Senior High Lock-In
Like us on Facebook
Thanks for all that you do to make “Academic Excellence with a Heart” a true reality!
Chris Comella, Pilgrim School Principal
Finally, if you missed the list of ways that parents can help at Pilgrim, here are some ideas:
- …in the classroom
- …in the Parent-Teacher League
- …at the Board of Education Meetings: 1st Tuesday of each month at 7 p.m.
- …as part of the Marketing Team
- …as part of the Development Group
- …as part of the Technology Team: 1st Wednesday of each month at 7 p.m
- …supporting Pilgrim Fundraisers and purchasing gift cards on a regular basis
- …sharing the good news about Pilgrim with a prospective family (postcards with Open House dates are available in the school office.
Our theme for parents this school year is 100% Participation! Our success as a school and as a living, growing community depends on the reality of every family donating some time, talent and treasure, as each family is able. Thanks for your help and participation.
You are always welcome in classrooms, and I welcome your feedback and questions. Feel free to contact me (ccomella@pilgrimchicago.org) whenever something arises. If you would like to become involved in events and activities hosted by the Parent Teacher League (PTL), please contact Shellie Riedle, Alison Hays,or Staff Rep to PTL, Kristen Stone. Parents are also welcome to attend weekly chapel services. The students are always happy to see you there!
Chris Comella, Pilgrim School Principal
Pilgrim Lutheran School
Email: office@pilgrimchicago.org
Website: pilgrimchicago.org
Location: 4300 N Winchester Ave, Chicago, IL, United States
Phone: 773-477-4824
Facebook: facebook.com/pilgrimlutheranchurchandschool