ARPS Family Center needs donations for holidays

 Greetings from all of us at the ARPS Family Center!  We hope you and your families are doing well. It is that time of year in which we appeal for your help to support some of our students in need during the holiday season.  It is the case that many of our students and their families continue to face harsh realities related to loss of housing,  employment and physical/mental health issues due to the pandemic and life in general.  We are asking for donations for our McKinney Vento (Homeless Act) students and others experiencing significant challenges.  

As in past years, we continue to respond to requests for help with rental/ utilities assistance, food, warm clothing, personal items and other necessities from student's and their families in all of our schools. 

For the last three years, our drive to ask for donations has been successful thanks to all of you who contributed gifts and gift cards.  Gift cards continue to be the preferred donation and, ideally, we would collect $25 for each child in need, but you can choose to send any denomination gift card you wish. We recommend getting these from stores that offer an array of items, such as Target, Walmart, Marshall’s, T J Maxx, supermarkets or generic, Visa/MasterCard ones.  Gift cards can be sent to us via inter school (ARPS Family Center, Holiday Donations), they can be dropped off at our center in the Middle School or we can pick them up at your school. We will be collecting your donations until December 9, 2022 so we have enough time to deliver them and families can use them before the holidays, as they wish. 

Please call Mildred (362-1871) if you have any questions or wish to drop off your gift Cards at our Center or want us to pick them up at your school. Thanks, in advance, for your generosity and care.

 

ARPS Biliteracy information session

 

ZOOM LINK: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85391694073
Interpretation Available: Request Here
Questions: clementsa@arps.org

Try Hockey for Free and Learn to Skate

Register for Try Hockey for Free here.

Skate and gear sale starts at 12:30pm.

Skating starts at 1:30pm.

The Amherst Hockey Association has a variety of programs for children of various skating abilities. Learn to skate, learn to play and girls' house programs start on November 12. More information and registration can be found here: http://www.amhersthockey.org.

Election Day Bake Sale

The PGO is looking for bakers and volunteers for our Voting Day Fundraiser on Tuesday, November 8th!

Baked goods should be wrapped individually. Please label the container or each item so our customers know what they are buying. Drop-off information will follow closer to the date.

The bake sale stand will be open from 9am-2pm.

Sign up here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0e45a4a82faafcc07-voting

PGO Gift Card Fundraiser

The PGO will be selling gift cards that you can use for your normal weekly purchases at the grocery store or for Holiday shopping. This is money that you would already be spending, but if you use our gift cards, you will be earning money for Fort River! You pay full face value, but the PGO buys the gift cards at a discount (from 2-16% depending on the retailer.)

Use the cards for:

• Purchases that you already make on a regular basis like groceries (eg. Stop & Shop, Whole Foods)
• Holiday shopping (ex. Athleta, L.L. Bean, Old Navy)
• To give as gifts to teachers, mail carriers and bus drivers (eg. Starbucks, Panera) 

Fill out the order form and send it to school with a check.

Gift cards will be distributed the week of Thanksgiving, orders are due November 14. 

Participate in research studies at MGH

The Cognitive Neuroscience Group at the MGH Institute of Health Professions in Boston is recruiting children between the ages of 8 and 11 years to participate in research studies funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institute of Health (NIH).  

The purpose of the study is to evaluate the learning patterns of children with typical and atypical language development. The study will involve 3 visits to the lab at the MGH Institute of Health Professions. During the visits, children complete a battery of cognitive and language-based assessments, play several games on the computer and complete several language/memory tasks. The lab visit includes safe and noninvasive EEG recording.  A visit will last about 3 hours. We are looking for children who were late to develop language, and who still receive services for language or learning difficulties. More information can be found at: Rally | Learning Differences in Children (massgeneralbrigham.org)

Payment is $50 for each in-person visit to the lab ($150 total). We provide free all-day parking at the Navy Yard. We will mail you the scores of your child on the cognitive and language tests/subtests. Please email us at cnglead@mghihp.edu or call us at (617) 643-4821 if you are interested or if you have any questions.