Aspen Elementary sixth-grader Dahlia Wright was excited for the school’s color run.

She already had her shirt chalked in bright colors.

“I bought chalk to throw at all my friends,” she said. “I got some on me, too.”

She was thinking about throwing softballs at the dunk tank release in hopes of dunking a teacher as well.

Her dad, Adam, was there to support his daughter. 

“I like to spend time with her,” he said, adding that he hasn’t quite mastered the cleaning of the chalk out of clothes in the third year of the run. “We just plan on wearing garbage clothes in case they don’t get clean.”

First grade teacher Haley McCall was navigating her kids through the activities, bake sale and food options.

“We’ve raised $38,000 of our $40,000 so we’re hoping tonight, we’ll make it,” she said, adding that she agreed to take a pie to the face for the cause. “My kids are excited about some of the incentives, like duct taping the principal (Suzie Williams) and earning a cotton candy party, besides the color run.”

Robin Haueter was catching up to her son, Reagan, and twins, Georgia and Abigail, who were to pie McCall.

“I’m excited to donate directly to the school and that we can support it,” she said. “The school really does have good teachers who are willing to do this to help raise funds, but they’re also good at what they do. I love seeing my kids come home with papers every day and teachers sending us updates on what they’re working on.”

Groups of students raced around the school’s field, with teachers dousing them in bright-colored chalk as part of the school fundraiser. More than $40,000 was raised to help fund field trip transportation, Reflections, Red Ribbon Week, DARE, assemblies, movie nights, school T-shirts, pastries and parent events, teachers’ classroom requests, teacher meals during parent-teacher conferences and “all the fun things,” PTA treasurer Jocelyn Anderson said.

“Each class will have a cotton candy or snow cone party, then there are other incentives like a PJ and crazy sock day,” she said. “I love that the color run is like a celebration for the kids when it’s actually our fundraiser.”

PTA president Abigail Underwood said the difference between this year’s fundraiser and those of the past two years, which brought in about $10,000 and $17,000 respectively, was the addition of online donations.

“We had a website which they could share across the country with grandparents and friends,” she said, adding that donations came from 29 states. “We also had more daily communication and more incentives.”

Another addition was two weeks prior to the event, students could purchase chalk to color designs on school grounds, Underwood said.  λ