Mustang Public Schools Foundation raises funds at Bronco Benefit
Hali Pierce paints an acrylic painting, and Olivia Mulrane constructs a wire sculpture at the Bronco Benefit. The artists were able to be seen creating the pieces by interested spectators in the PAC. The pieces were sold as part of the auction items during the event. (Photo by Jacob Sturm)
By Jacob Sturm
news@mustangpaper.com
Financial backing can make a dramatic difference to myriad employment fields, and teachers
within the Mustang Public Schools district are poised to get that experience firsthand.
The Mustang Public Schools Foundation hosted the Bronco Benefit Dinner and Auction at the Mustang Performing Arts Center on April 1, where attendees had the chance to bid on silent auction items, participate in an in-person live auction and more for the betterment of the MPS staff and students in the future.
Tasha Gammon, the Executive Director at the MPS Foundation, said the funds raised will go
back into the schools.
“It gives us the ability to put all the money we raised back into the schools in the form of the
teacher grants,” Gammon said. “So, it is directly affecting all of our students and all of our
staff.”
The PAC had 22 tables available for attendees when they arrived and got food from what was
provided. By the end of the night, about $13,000 was raised for the cause.
People who couldn’t attend the event will still have ways to contribute to the foundation’s
cause benefiting the school district in a plethora of ways.
One of those options is going to the Mustangpsfoundation.org website, which will have ways
for people to make cash donations. The foundation also accepts business corporate partners for their events. Gammon said the foundation already has a lot of those sponsors, but said the
foundation is always looking for more.
Bronco Benefit’s Dinner and Auction also involved lots of help from students from Mustang’s
schools. For instance, the attendees could watch artists create a wire sculpture and paint an
acrylic painting for the live auction part of the event.
The art created by Hali Pierce and Olivia Mulrane were auctioned off at the event. Gammon
said the pieces selling price totaled between $1,600 between the two of them.
Every item was sold at the event. Gammon said the silent auction items were mostly donations made from businesses in the community. Also, every MPS site donated something to be sold.
“It’s definitely great to see,” Gammon said. “We had tons of student helpers to serve, we had
student photographers, we had student artists, we actually had a former student play piano for us. She actually graduated a couple of years ago. So, it’s great to see that, but aside from that, in order to get those we had to reach out to a lot of staff members to help us organize that. So, it was really a team effort from a student perspective, from the teacher perspective, from the parents… It’s great to see everybody kind of come together to help the cause.”
The MPSF has raised $37,000 for the year to date. The foundation has also given $100,000 in grants since it formed.
