Raising money for Southeast Seattle schools one step at a time

Over 11 days, Southeast Seattle students took more than 65 million steps around the globe.

They passed Seattle more than once, made it to Bogotá, Colombia, and by late Wednesday they were near Cairo.

Well, sort of.

The students, staff and parents at 17 Southeast schools actually participated in a Move-A-Thon, an annual fundraiser by the Southeast Seattle Schools Fundraising Alliance, which hopes to raise $500,000 this year for elementary and middle schools in District 17. The Move-A-Thon part of the fundraiser ended Friday.

The steps they took — part of a larger fundraiser that culminates at the end of the month — were recorded on pedometers and tracked on SESSFA’s website. The site also shows how many times their steps would circle the Earth.

This is the fourth year that the alliance is holding the event, which started during the pandemic in 2021, to pool community resources to supplement the budgets of individual schools. Organizers say the collaborative effort is a much more equitable way to raise and distribute money in communities, especially lower-income ones with fewer resources and where robust PTA or PTO fundraising may not exist.

The funds are divided among the 17 schools in the alliance, with each school’s PTA deciding how to use its allotment. The fundraising has a more urgent note this year as Seattle Public Schools makes cuts to close a $104 million to $111 million budget deficit.

Smaller school budgets mean that PTAs may have to step up to pay for things like supplies and even part-time staff positions, which would have been covered in school budgets in previous years.

“In the midst of being consistently underfunded by the state for a long time, in the face of school closures, and school consolidations and grade level configurations being announced [this] month, it’s possible that some of our schools might be on the chopping block and some of our PTSAs might no longer exist,” said Matt Burtness, who teaches at Dunlap Elementary School and is a founding member of SESSFA. “Still, in the face of all that, we are pushing on because we can’t sit here and wonder ‘what if,’ because our students need help now.”

The group raised $398,000 last year, which helped with teacher supplies, housing assistance, library book purchases, translation and interpretation services, field trips and after-school programs.

At Dunlap, the money has gone toward grants to help teachers buy supplies and to purchase food for events. It’s also covered stipends for visiting teachers as well as arts, music and after-school activities. Some schools have helped families with winter clothing and personal hygiene supplies, he said.

“Basically, what we are able to raise will have a direct impact on the sorts of programing and activities and support that we’re able to offer our students, and families and staff,” Burtness said.

Ha Quyen Phan, 9, a fourth grader at Dunlap Elementary School, is doing her part.

On Mondays and Fridays, she attends the Dunlap Creative Arts Theater program, which is funded, in part, with money raised through the Move-A-Thon.

She loves the singing and dancing in the program and that she gets to play her favorite character in a stage production of the movie “Finding Nemo.“

“I’m Dory!” she said.

Ha Quyen estimated she’d racked up about 20,000 steps. She walked with friends to Rainier Beach over the weekend to add some numbers to their pedometers.

“There’s a lot of activities to do,” she said.

Ha Quyen and her friends also hope to raise $200 through donations from their friends and families and handmade items they’re selling.

Students also accumulated steps through a Move-A-Thon Bingo board, while engaging in activities like jumping rope, playing Frisbee or dancing to their favorite songs.

“The Move-A-Thon Bingo also helps us,” Ha Quyen said. “When we go home, we get to do activities, not just [play] on iPads, laptops, phones.”

Abe Hoff, 14, an eighth grader at Aki Kurose Middle School, accumulated most of his nearly 30,000 steps during his daily walks to school and his twice-weekly track practice after school.

His siblings, who are 9 and 11 and attend Graham Hill Elementary School, are also participating. The three have a $1,000 fundraising goal and have so far raised about $750 from close family and friends.

Hoff had a small rivalry with his friends to see who could rack up the most steps.

“It’s just a fun competition; it’s not super-competitive,” he said.

Hoff said the fundraiser is important to help bridge the funding gap. Some of his friends have mentioned opportunities that are available at their schools that aren’t offered at his, he said. 

“I think it would be cool to have all the schools, no matter where they are in the city or who goes there, have the same opportunities and the same programs,” he said.

“It’s still the same school district,” he added. “It’s still Seattle Public Schools.”

There’s also a community aspect to the fundraiser that Hoff appreciates. The Good Foot Arts Collective, an arts education program, and Double Dutch Divas, which promotes health and wellness through double Dutch, made appearances at his school during the fundraiser to ramp up the physical activities. Tutta Bella, a local restaurant, is also donating a portion of sales during May to the alliance.

“I thought that was cool: To see other programs getting involved, and [see that] it’s not just the school, and it’s not just the students,” Hoff said.

For more information on the fundraiser, visit: https://www.sessfa.org.