Region 15 Staff Dresses Down for Charitable Purposes

Staff and teachers at Region 15 schools contribute a dollar or two each week for the privilege of wearing “professional casual” clothing on Fridays. Khakis are certainly comfortable but the best feeling comes from the knowledge of helping others.

All the money collected from the Region 15 employees who dress down goes to a number of worthy causes, including scholarships, financial assistance, and charities.

“Our dress down day collections go to fund field trips of students who cannot afford it. We also support Relay for Life and help when families are in trouble such as the victims of Hurricane Katrina,” said Lauren Robinson, principal of Rochambeau Middle School.

Most of the funds collected are returned directly to Region 15 students and families.

“The funds we’ve raised are available for students who would like to attend a field trip or another school event and are not able to do so due to financial problems,” said Mr. James Agostine, principal of Pomperaug High School. “We’ve also established a scholarship fund that is set up for students under special circumstances.”

At Middlebury Elementary School, a sign displayed in the office window lists those charities that benefit from the dress down collections, including the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, Relay for Life, Walk for the Cure and the American Cancer Society.

“We've been doing dress down days for about eight years,” said Stefanie Clifford, school counselor at Pomperaug Elementary School. “It originally began to help out families within our school who needed financial support with backpacks and school supplies for the upcoming school year.  We have also been able to help out with field trips and other needs that have come up during the school year. Although we still do this, we have also helped out specific families in need and organized charities. As needs change, so can we.”

Memorial Middle School uses their dress down funds to make donations to a variety of charities, either when a staff member is actively involved in the organization, or in memory of a deceased staff person’s family member, or to provide financial aid to families in need so their children can attend school field trips.

“The staff at Long Meadow Elementary School loves the idea of a casual Friday while, at the same time, we’re able to do good deeds,” said LMES principal Rich Gusenburg. “At LMES, the process basically started several years ago when we had an active team as part of Relay for Life. We wanted to support the team so we began to do Dress Downs each spring to donate to the team. The past several years we have not had a Relay team and this has freed us up to make donations to a variety of causes, including the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and special scholarship funds. We enjoy doing something good for people.”