MAIDEN ROCK — Taste of Tuscany, the Ellsworth Community School District Foundation’s major fundraising event, is set for a 13th year of food, fun, auctions, raffles, music and wine.

The event is May 30 from 4:30-8 p.m. at Vino in the Valley. Individual tickets to attend and enjoy the meal are $50. For $500, guests can purchase a VIP table, which seats eight guests and comes with priority seating and extra perks. Tickets are available online at www.ellsworthcommunityschoolfoundation.org/tasteoftuscany or at the door.

“Going to Vino in the Valley is always a special time for people,” Event Organizer Suki Mitchell said. “The food’s amazing. It’s a buffet, and you don’t usually get a buffet at Vino. You get to try a little bit of everything.”

There will also be a wine tasting at the event.
One of the fan favorites, the online auction, is set to begin sometime during the week ahead of the event, concluding at 8 p.m. May 30. Pieces from the schools’ art and technical education departments will be available in the auction, as well as a variety of intriguing prizes. People who do not attend the event are still welcome to participate in the online auction.

A 50/50 raffle, a wine pull, a paddle battle raffle and a cornhole-style game will highlight the fundraising at the event itself. The foundation will also sell cookies.

Funds raised go to supporting the EXCELLS grants from the foundation. The grants make up a system where Ellsworth’s educators apply for funds to make a project happen, go on a field trip or purchase classroom equipment, and they can be awarded up to $1,000 to benefit the learning experience.

Over the past year, ECSDF has spent over $25,000 to benefit classrooms. They partially funded all character education in the district, funded field trips to the James Hill House, the sixth-grade ski trip, a fourth grade tour of the State Capitol and eighth grade English attending a play.

“We know that there’s not enough funding to provide all of the great things that we want to provide to our students, and so we have fundraisers to bridge the gap between what we have funds for and what truly could help the students,” Event Organizer Melissa Ryden said.

Some of the most successful experiences they have provided include the purchase of hammocks to create a “hammock farm” in the school forest where students frequently read or simply clear their minds and Trout in the Classroom, where students help raise trout eggs all the way to full-grown fish. They are then released into the Trimbelle River. Mitchell said it is a whole ecology lesson that ties in with the curriculum.

“It’s the stuff I think the kids actually remember,” Mitchell said. “Whatever the teachers can think up to make their classrooms more interactive and whatever for their kids, that’s what we want to fund.

One kindergarten teacher received stuffed animals and books to coincide with them. They also financially support teacher training.

This is the foundation’s lone fundraiser this year, and it raised about $19,000 last year. As they spent over $25,000 last year, the foundation is seeking to have another successful event in order to supply more grants.

“If you think back to those special extras, that’s the highlight of going to school in K-12,” Mitchell said. “I like to think that we are the ones that are privileged enough to get to add to the kids’ actual experience of going to school past reading, writing and arithmetic.”

Mitchell said their goal is to provide enrichment that will alter the course of students’ entire lives. She said if a student is struggling with reading and a grant helps them progress, that will change their future.
Of the money raised, $1,000 goes to the Teacher of the Year award. The award is given out at graduation, honoring a teacher who has had a lasting impact on students’ lives. The winning teacher will be announced at Ellsworth’s graduation May 23.

The EHS Vocal Jazz and Colleen Raye will both return to the event to provide live music.

There is an extensive list of sponsors for the event, with some of the top sponsors being Vino in the Valley, the host of the event, the Ellsworth Cooperative Creamery, Quinn Motors, CCF Bank, Plummer Concrete, Xcel Energy and State Farm. They are taking sponsorships anytime prior to the event and even after the event. A donation page is available on the website for people to donate at any time.