Parent nursery school will hold 5K run and kids' races
By Leigh Ann Maze
The Saratoga Parent Nursery School is holding a 5-kilometer (3.1-mile) race at Saratoga High School's Benny Pierce Field for the first time this year as a fundraiser. The race takes place Sept. 24.
For 34 years until 1995, the school's main fundraising event was the annual Art and Wine show that it hosted in Wildwood Park in Saratoga. After questions arose as to whether a fundraiser involving alcohol was appropriate for a preschool, the school had to turn elsewhere for its school fundraising efforts.
"We haven't really had a large fundraiser since then," said Debra Yoffie, a parent and the chair of the SPNS remodel project. "We're hoping the race will really take off and become our annual fundraiser." Yoffie is also a member of the Design Response Board of Directors.
The SPNS is a cooperative school and an adult education center.
The race officially starts at 9:30 a.m. Runners will make a loop from Benny Pierce Field onto Herriman Avenue, Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road, Cox Avenue, Cumberland Drive, Scotland Drive, Glasgow Drive; Beaumont Avenue and back to Herriman Avenue. A short uphill sprint at the end will lead to the finish line back at Benny Pierce Field. The race will be professionally timed and is open to all ages and abilities.
A separate kids' run will be held on the SHS track and will include two rounds of 50-meter, 200-meter, 400-meter and 800-meter races. The kid's run will be held from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. and will be timed on request.
At the completion of all the races at 11 a.m., an awards ceremony will be held in which division champions will be awarded medals and gift certificates. Everyone who finishes a race will receive goodies, refreshments and a free T-shirt. Every child who completes the kid's run will receive a pass to The Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose.
Aside from running there will also be music and prize drawings.
Fees to enter the adult race are $20 per person before Sept. 9 and $25 on race day. The Kid's Run costs $8 per child if more than one is preregistered, otherwise it's $10. For more information, call Saratoga Parent Nursery School at 408.867.9774.
The SPNS hopes to have 750 people participate in the race, Yoffie said. The money raised will go towards a new playground at the nursery school and it will help pay off a loan the SPNS had to take out to fund their remodeling project.
The remodeling of the 52-year-old two-bedroom house that the SPNS calls home began in April 1999, after Design Response, a nonprofit organization that provides space planning and interior design to other nonprofits, chose the SPNS as one of its clients. Since then parents, teachers, Design Response, West Valley College, community members and businesses have worked together to get the project done.
Construction began in June 2000 and is expected to be finished at the end of August, Yoffie said.
Although the square footage was not increased, some serious rearranging made the space more conducive to children's learning, moving and exploring. New plumbing, a new roof, new electrical wiring and new floors were installed. The kitchen was moved and the art room was enlarged. Both bathrooms and the patio were redone and the outside awning was improved. The inside of the SPNS was repainted and the loft in the playroom was redone to resemble a tree house.
SPNS was also brought up to code with the Americans With Disabilities Act.
Still left to be completed is the exterior painting, front and back landscaping, finish work and furnishings.
Roughly half of the remodel has been paid for. About $50,000 was already in the coffers when the project began, and SPNS raised an additional $25,000 in cash from members, alumni, Saratoga Rotary and Greater Bay Bank Corp. Such contributors as Benjamin Moore Paints, Galaxy Lighting and Water Quality Plumbing donated a total of $7,000 in products. The SPNS had to obtain a loan to finance the rest of the remodel, but Yoffie would not disclose the total cost of the remodel.
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Saratoga, California Since 1955
