Hundreds of Taylorites got their game faces on last weekend in support of Taylor Independent School District teachers’ classroom initiatives.
On Saturday, Nov. 5, the Taylor Educational Enrichment Foundation hosted its second annual fundraiser Designer Purse Bingo in support of teacher grants for Taylor Independent School District at the Williamson County Expo Center.
Attendees wearing their favorite sports attire came to this tailgate- themed party to play bingo for high-end purse prizes, a silent auction, dinner and much more.
Anita Allen Volek, TEE’s executive director, said this year’s event, which sold-out of all 400 tickets, was a huge success.
“We increased our attendance by a hundred tickets,” Volek said. “Dollarwise, it will be bigger than last year. And our silent auction was extremely successful.”
At the event, lucky bingo and contest winners scored donated high-end purses from top designers, including Dooney & Bourke, Michael Kors and more.
“We gave away 20 designer purses; we had 19 excited ladies, and one man,” Volek said. “And it was kind of cool because he won the duffel in the hopes of it going to a male. He was a guest at the Faykus Financial’s tables, our leading sponsor.”
Volek said the proceeds from the event support a worthy cause.
“We are like the booster club for school teachers for Taylor ISD,” Volek said. “We provide money to the classrooms through a grant process, and to date we have put back into the classrooms over $425,000.”
Past years’ grants have included everything from butterfly farms to microscopes for kindergartners.
“When teachers apply for these grants, we ask them to think outside of the box, to think of projects that they would love for their kids to be able to participate in that perhaps isn’t available through the ISD normal annual budget,” Volek said. “This past year we did a game-changer grant. Those are our bigger grants. Those can be up to $25,000, and we purchased activity rugs for every classroom for T.H. Johnson (Elementary School,) which is our pre-k and kindergarten and first-grade campus. We just like teachers to think big and be creative, and they do a pretty good job of that.”
