Thank you to the many local businesses and community members who supported our recent BLOOM fundraiser.

Held on November 10 at the Blackhawk Country Club, BLOOM featured live and silent auctions and a raffle, which, along with generous sponsorships from numerous organizations, brought in nearly $65,000 to help fund Caring Closets in all MCPASD schools.

Caring Closets help the district’s most needy students. Within the Middleton Cross Plains Area School District, 18% of students receive free or reduced price hot lunches. Of the district’s 7319 total students, approximately 60 are identified as homeless. About 170 students across MCPASD’s elementary and middle schools participate in a weekend food program that provides support to families coping with food insecurity.

On the MCPASD high school campus, the Cardinal Nest, the district’s first caring closet, provides students with free, confidential access to essential items, including food, and educational resources, helping them focus less on everyday needs and more on school, extracurriculars, and future opportunities. The Nest also offers clothing, personal hygiene items, home essentials, and school supplies to the many students that struggle with access to these products. 

Thanks to the generous support of business sponsors and other donors at BLOOM, the Education Foundation can expand this model Caring Closet program to create similar resources for elementary and middle school students in need. Major sponsors included:

• $10,000 gift: HyCite Enterprises
• $5,000 gifts: HR Imaging and Intuit
• $2,500 gifts: AlphaGraphics, Findorff, One Community Bank, Springs Window Fashions, and William Thomas Jewelry
• $1,000 gifts: Donovan Group, Nothing Bundt Cake, Olson Toon, Resonant Capital Advisors, and State Bank of Cross Plains

“The Education Foundation is honored to partner with local businesses and community members who want to invest in our students, staff and schools,” said the foundation’s Executive Director Amber Kiggens-Leifheit. “Our generous supporters understand that students who come to school hungry, without a way to shower, or without school supplies, clean clothes, or other tools for success are stressed and cannot learn. In supporting the Caring Closet initiative, they’re helping unlock the potential of the next generation of their business’ customers, employees and good neighbors.”