[UPDATE: June 22, 2020: The banners created for the Class of 2020 will be coming down a week from today. New graduates, be sure to retrieve your FREE keepsake banner during yearbook distribution events at the High School on July 1 and 2. Read more in our News pages HERE>> ]
[UPDATE: June 4, 2020: We’re excited to announce we’ve met our fundraising goal. At this time, we’ve had more than 50 donors to this project. We’re so grateful to our community and Sisters’ generous support. Banner production is under way, and we’re hoping to get the banners up around the end of next week. THANK YOU, EVERYONE!]
[UPDATE: June 1, 2020: We’ve just launched our Go Fund Me campaign to fundraise for this exciting banner project. Any donation amount is welcome, and donations are tax-deductible.
>> Click <HERE> to help us honor and support our Sisters High School Class of 2020. THANK YOU! <<
Or, if you would prefer to send in a check for the banner fundraiser, then you can mail it to: Citizens4Community, P.O. Box 2193, Sisters, OR, 97759. Please put “Banner Project” in the memo section. ]
We know the Covid pandemic has cast a shadow over what should be a special time for our graduating seniors and their families. In a close-knit, rural community like Sisters, it somehow seems extra sad to miss out on opportunities to celebrate accomplishments and important milestones together.
So in collaboration with the school district, the City and others, C4C is working on a little something extra for students this year—a fun street banner project to honor the Sisters High School Class of 2020.
WE HOPE YOU’LL JOIN US IN SUPPORTING THIS PROJECT.
Our plan is to have the banners displayed proudly on lampposts throughout downtown Sisters starting sometime around Graduation Day (June 12).
Various rural Oregon communities have found street banners are a great way to highlight their hometown spirit and show support for their graduating seniors.
We definitely want our local students and parents to know that Sisters supports them. Likewise, we want to offer our Class of 2020 a joyful community send-off. We think of our local graduates as the ultimate expression of “Made in Sisters” and are glad to have them representing our hometown as they go out into the world and take on the next chapters of their lives!
During the Sisters Country Vision process, an informal survey of soon-to-be graduates showed that, while most of our SHS students plan to leave after graduation, a majority of those students want to return to live in Sisters in 5-10 years. We see this banner project as an investment in that possible future and one small way to say not only, “Hey, Congratulations!” but also, “YES! Please Come Back Home to Sisters!”
CITIZENS4COMMUNITY IS HAPPY TO BE HELPING TO ORGANIZE THE BANNER PROJECT.
*** OUR BANNER PROJECT FUNDRAISING CAMPAIGN KICKS OFF JUNE 1…SO PLEASE KEEP A LOOKOUT FOR ANNOUNCEMENTS ABOUT THAT CAMPAIGN, AND PLEASE SHARE THOSE ANNOUNCEMENTS WITH OTHERS THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA OR VIA EMAIL. ***
C4C will be donating $1,250 as seed money to help kick-start that fundraising campaign. These funds are possible through generous community building grants provided by First Interstate Bank, the City of Sisters and the Ford Family Foundation.
We’ll post a sample mock up of our anticipated Sisters street banners during the next few days, so STAY TUNED! The design will include a student’s first name and the student’s photo and a message of encouragement for the SHS Class of 2020.
After the banners are displayed, each graduate can pick up his or her banner to have permanently as a keepsake.
Early special thanks go to our C4C Youth/Student Board Member, Olivia Bertagna, for initiating the idea, and to SHS Principal Joe Hosang for his support and for helping to get the word out, to SHS Yearbook advisor Susie Seaney for helping to coordinate photos for the project, and to Lynne Fendall for offering valuable advice and input. We’re also excited to have Shannon Towry, who created Sweet Home’s street banners, working with us.
Likewise, we appreciate Hoyt’s for banner hanging materials, the City’s Public Works team for offering to hang the banners and Sisters Rodeo for letting us use the lampposts that usually fly rodeo banners this time of year.