Please mark your calendar that MERC PTA will be hosting a Welcome Party this coming Saturday 9/29/2012 at 9:30AM (after the first recess) in the Teacher Lounge.  Coffee and tea along with some savory and sweet snacks will be served.  We will go through the fun events in the coming year, recruit helpers and discuss fundraising ideas.

Thank you (teachers/parents/students) very much for your support throughout last school year. This year, we are doing food sale again-- about twice a month, different goodies from time to time. Please note this a PRE-ORDER food sale-- this is to control food cost and minimize hassles for the front desk.

For this Saturday 9/29/12, we will have the following food items for pre-order sale:

1. Mixed Nut Mooncakes-- Chinese mooncakes with mixed nuts, seeds, pork floss, candied winter melon, candied tangerine and kiffir lime leaf. Not very sweet, and just in time for Mooncake Festival/Mid Autumn Festival on 9/29/12!
($7 each, order deadline is Tuesday 9/25/12 at 10am)

2. Hot Dog Buns-- hot dog in baked Chinese sweet bun.
($1 each, order deadline is Friday 9/28/12 at 9am)

3. California Rolls-- crushed imitation crab meat with mayonnaise, avocado and cucumber, 12 pieces per box.
($4 per box, comes with wasabi, pickled ginger and soy sauce, order deadline is Friday 9/28/12 at 9am)

4. California Rolls + Unagi Rolls Combo-- 8 pieces California rolls + 4 pieces Unagi rolls (eels, avocado, cucumber wrapped in sushi rice).
($6 per box, comes with wasabi, pickled ginger and soy sauce, order deadline is Friday 9/28/12 at 9am)

To order, please contact Regina at:
reginachennault [at] yahoo [dot] com

As always, at least 5% of the proceeds will be donated to MERC.

Upon receipt of your order, I will contact you via email/phone call to confirm your order within 1 day. If you haven't heard from me please call me otherwise. Large orders or catering portions are also welcome.

Announcing our first online fundraising option for our Chinese school ... 

Starting today, whenever you shop online using iGive.com, up to 26% of your purchase at over 1,100 great stores will be automatically donated to Hayward MERC Chinese School - a subdivision of "Multicultural Education Research Center."

Aside from the contribution/donation, you will be able to access a discount shopping database under "Deals & Coupons" tab once you're in your iGive account. The screenshot below demonstrates how I could use iGive to save money. In the example, I did a search on "notebook computer", and I got a long list of current promotions that I can take advantage of to save up to $167 off a i3 Lenovo notebook online purchase using iGive.

For example, iff I decided to make the online purchase above, our school will get 2% of this $412 computer purchase, and that's about $8 to help out achieving MERC's mission.

To participating in fundraising, just designate MERC as your cause of contribution by following the following 2 steps. Once signed up, you can always come back to iGive.com to sign in your iGive account, and start finding discounts and shop online from there. Here's how:

STEP ONE: Sign up at iGive

Just follow this special sign up link, click on "Join Today", and follow the instructions there to create your iGive account, or choose to use your existing Facebook account as your iGive account. You only have to do this step once.

STEP TWO: Shop Using iGive

Every time you shop online, remember to go to iGive.com, sign in your iGive account, and shop from there to more than 1,100 online merchants including Amazon.com.

Dear Parents, Teachers and Students,

We are delighted to announce that the 5-week Chinese Language Enrichment Program (CLEP) offered by MERC will begin on Saturday, 9/29. 

An Info Session will be held to introduce the CLEP program at Stonebrae Elementaty School this coming Saturday, 9/22, at 9:15 am. All are welcome to attend.

CLEP  is an exciting 5-week short-term program that will introduce Chinese culture and will provide the opportunity for your child to develop basic Chinese language skills. Please let us know via email ([email protected]) if you are interested in attending.

Course Details

Course Title: Beginning Chinese (no prerequisites)
Class Code: CLEP-B  
Section: B01
Dates: Saturdays: 9/29, 10/6, 10/13, 10/20, 10/27 
Time: 10:40 am - 12:10 pm 
Target Age: 5-7 years old 

Early registration is encouraged. Space is limited and the enrollment is on a "first come, first served" basis.  Registration will be available at the Info Session or on site for interested attendees.

Additional Questions?

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at (510) 881-9995, or by email [email protected] or visit our website at www.haywardchineseschool.org


Best,

MERC Chinese School

We knew itt was a successful "MERC Info Night" that we brought to Stonebrae Elementary School the other night. The event was something new in a sense that we' rarely did at a public school. To show our appreciation, we sent out a formal thank-you letter to most attendees.

All attended parents deserve a round of applause for the thoughts they have considered to bring Chinese culture to their children. We truly thank them for being there at the meeting.