On April 26th, our community is set to celebrate a big ‘ol 40th Anniversary Party at the ever-gorgeous Mill Valley Lumber Yard (6:00-8:30pm).
“Come celebrate as you enjoy delicious bites and beverages from Watershed Restaurant, Mill Valley Boards, Millie’s Crepes, and Eddy Wine Bar,” Kiddo! Executive Director Bill Lampl says. “Musical entertainment provided by MVSD students and alumni. Wine, beer, specialty cocktails and food included.”
Mill Valley is a special place to live, and we need to nurture the talent, intelligence, and potential in all our young students,” Lampl adds. “Keeping the arts as part of the core curriculum in Mill Valley is only possible thanks to private contributions from parents, businesses, and our community.”
In 1982, as the Mill Valley School District grappled with an erosion of state funding for public schools, community leaders rallied to create Kiddo!, the Mill Valley Schools Community Foundation, widely seen at the time as a stop-gap response to minimize Prop. 13 funding cuts to education. The original goal was to be out of business within five years when the state began funding schools properly.
That day has never come, but Kiddo! has never been an organization to dwell on the state’s financial instability, which has been exacerbated by the turbulence of the pandemic. Instead, it continues to raise millions of dollars per year to preserve programs and staff for nearly 2,500 students, as the Mill Valley school district counts on Kiddo! to fund 100% of the art, music, drama, dance and poetry programs in the schools, including teacher salaries, along with innovative teaching grants and more.