While public school enrollment may have declined across Wake County, our student population at Brier Creek Elementary School remains steady at about 700 students. With our year-round calendar and location near RTP (less than a mile from Telepathic Graphics), we often see an influx of student enrollment during the first two months of school between July-August. But our school’s annual budget from public funding is set based on enrollment numbers at the beginning of July.
The Parent Teacher Association (PTA) at Brier Creek Elementary School provides vital funding to our Title I public school – including help with printing costs that would otherwise cut into the school’s limited funds. The PTA is made up of a group of parents volunteering to support and improve BCES for our students, teachers, and families. Last year our fundraising efforts enabled numerous enhancements, including a new laminator in the front office, critical classroom materials requested by teachers, schoolwide artist performances, t-shirts for every student and staff member, and field trip scholarships. We provided monthly teacher appreciation including a holiday party, catered meals, snack breaks, and small surprise gifts.
Our free Fall Festival served a record number of families with inflatables, interactive games, and treats, which brought our community together. Students danced the night away at our free Spring Dance, which is DJed by our phenomenal principal, Mr. Taylor.
Our student population pulls from the surrounding neighborhoods as well as locations further down Glenwood Avenue. This year, over 60% of our students are eligible to receive free or reduced price lunch, so our school now offers free meals to all students with no application required.
Additionally, over 20% of our families are Spanish-speaking.
We cannot foster connections in our school community or fundraise without communication to our families and the broader Brier Creek community in Raleigh, NC. The most effective communication happens through printed materials that provide both English & Spanish translations. A primary example: flyers sent home in every student’s weekly folder regarding upcoming events, including both academic nights & spirit nights.
The Telepathic Graphics nonprofit print grant in 2026 has allowed us to print flyers as primary communication without having to worry about strain on the financial resources of our school. We don’t have to cram a bunch of events and announcements on a single printing. Flyers are most effective when they are distributed close to an event date and focused on a single message.
If the print grant increases in 2027, we want to try some new print strategies:
-Direct mail postcard to previous donors to share the impact of their dollars and encourage donations to our current fundraisers.
-Tabletop signs at our sponsors’ office locations to promote raffles and fundraisers.
-Flag banner or similar popup to list our sponsors and provide them with visibility at the school through the year.
As a reminder: Brier Creek is a Title I elementary school; funding is tight. Research consistently shows that money, when spent equitably and effectively on key school resources, improves student outcomes and closes achievement and opportunity gaps. The PTA is the key fundraising mechanism for our neighborhood school. We need our fundraising dollars to go toward direct costs of school improvements, including furniture for the library, classroom needs requested directly by teachers, and additional arts programming
Mark, Cindy, and the whole team at Telepathic Graphics Brier Creek are consistently friendly, responsive, and efficient. We are grateful for the partnership! Thank you for your consideration of a nonprofit printing grant in 2027 – either continuation or expansion of funding – to further support our neighborhood school.
