Millis Haunted Hayride October 22

Millis’s Haunted Hayride doesn’t just scare up a few ghosts and ghouls each October. It’s also the largest fundraiser for M.E.R.I.T., the Millis Educational Resources Initiative Team. This year’s event, which will take place on October 22, from 5-10 p.m., will help Millis teachers enhance their classwork with unique learning initiatives. Tickets for the rain or shine event, which sell out every year, will be available at Roche Bros. and Tangerini’s, and cost $10 per person or $45 for a family five-pack. The event will also feature refreshments, for an additional cost, some donated by Roche Bros. and Regal Cinemas in Bellingham.
“Schools are so strapped for all of their needs. The purpose of the organization is to raise money to fund things that the school budget can’t afford to pay for. Teachers or departments at the schools will file grant proposals for funding,” says co-chair or M.E.R.I.T., Lori LaDuke.
Teachers must submit applications by November, and M.E.R.I.T. board members, parents in the community, make their decisions by December.
“They submit the grants, and we, as a committee, review them and go through all of them,” says LaDuke, mother of a middle schooler and high school freshman. The five executive board members (there are about 15 other members) consider a number of factors to determine where funds should go, including how many children will benefit from the proposal.
“We run the gamut of what we fund. We try to be as broad-reaching as possible and encourage teachers to submit requests for things that go out of the box and introduce innovate ideas and teaching tools to our kids,” says LaDuke. “Obviously, I’d love to have the funds to be able to fulfill every single grant, and depending on what the need is, sometimes, I think, we can.”
M.E.R.I.T. funds about six to 10 grants each year to the tune of about $10K. Over the course of its existence, the committee has funded grants to the tune of about $250,000, not bad, says LaDuke, for a small town like Millis. In the past, MERIT has paid for such items as gymnasium mats, Smartboards, Polar Fit Sensors for PE, guitars for music class, projectors, cartography maps, a mineral mining project, an ALARM Robotics competition, text-to-speech software, woodworking tools and more. The most recent grants funded by MERIT include:
• Stand up Desks
• Chrome Books for Fifth Grade and Seventh Grade
• Mini PCR Machines for DNA testing
• Interactive Physics Projector
• I Pads for Art
• Digital Recorders for AP Exam testing
LaDuke does point out that, thanks to the need to stay abreast of technology, teachers’ requests are tending toward bigger ticket items these days.
M.E.R.I.T. does other fundraisers throughout the year. In late September, they held a Papa Gino’s fundraiser, and in the past they’ve had a Bunco night, a yoga night (which they are hoping to bring back to the Millis Public Library in December), and looking forward they plan to hold a November holiday shopping night as well as a prom fashion show in April. Also, anyone who wants to shop through Amazon can do so through AmazonSmile to donate a small portion of their proceeds to M.E.R.I.T.
By far, however, the annual Halloween event at Tangerini’s is the biggest fundraiser, and it takes a lot of volunteers, who are still needed for various scare stations. If you are aged 16 and older and are interested in volunteering, email LaDuke at lladuke@comcast.net.
You can find more out about M.E.R.I.T. by visiting its web page, meritmillis.org, which LaDuke says will soon be updated. M.E.R.I.T. is also on Facebook under “MERIT Millis Educational Resources Initiative Team.”
LaDuke says she understands that Millis families are asked to support many endeavors through town. Although it’s sometimes hard to approach people of the town for donations, “It’s so important to try to do it,” she says. “We are thrilled when we can fulfill the grant request. It’s so great to fund the interesting new things they’re trying to do for the schools.”