Dear Friend of Oak Grove:

It’s that time of year again!!! Giving Tuesday, the annual fundraiser of the Parsons Area Community Foundation (PACF) – that will benefit Oak Grove – will be held on Tuesday, November 28th (the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving).

We have come such a long way in the journey to restore and preserve Oak Grove for the benefit of SE Kansas school children. The school has been fully restored – inside and out – to its original 1877 condition. The school has been placed on the Kansas and National Historic Site Registers. And effective January 1, 2024, Oak Grove will become a member of the Southeast Kansas (SEK) Museum Alliance Network (as a historic museum) – the first step in the effort to preserve the school for generations to come.

But our ultimate objective for Oak Grove is to provide a special onsite field trip program in early Kansas history that will bless the lives of Southeast Kansas elementary school children. This program will replicate a similar experience that is offered by the Kansas Historical Society (KHS) in Topeka. The KHS has provided their syllabus and materials for the Oak Grove program.

Last year we held an open house (in October 2022) when actress Wendi Lou Lee from “Little House on the Prairie’ visited Oak Grove. Wendi also visited several elementary schools in the area at that time to share with them the plans for this special field trip program. Area school teachers and administrators received this news with excitement and expressed eager anticipation of the day when they can participate in this special Oak Grove experience.

In order to provide this program for our area schools, we need to install a few additional facilities onsite to ensure that these field trips can be conducted safely and securely. These facilities include:

1 – a handicap access ramp for the front porch of the school.

2 – a covered pavilion (with an overhead cupola to house the original Oak Grove school bell) for outdoor picnics and activities, and

3 -outdoor bathroom facilities.

Thus far, we have collected about $25,000 for these three projects. We have also received a wonderful grant from the PACF to help with the handicap ramp. Overall, we estimate the need to collect an additional $50,000 to have sufficient funds to complete all three projects. All donations contributed to the Oak Grove Endowed Fund on Giving Tuesday will go DIRECTLY to the effort to build these facilities at Oak Grove.

Here’s how you can donate this Giving Tuesday to help bring this wonderful program to reality:

Donate by check

Make the check payable to Parsons Area Community Foundation (or PACF).

Write on the check (at the top or on the memo line): Giving Tuesday $ for Oak Grove Endowed Fund.

Fill out the 2023 Giving Tuesday Donation Form, writing in the donation amount on the line for the “Oak Grove School Endowed Fund”. The form is at a link called “Donate Form Here” on the page at https://www.pacfgivingtuesday.com/ .

Mail the check and form to PACF, PO Box 894, Parsons, KS 67357. Envelopes MUST be received (or POSTMARKED) by no later than November 28, 2023.

Donate by credit card online

The website address for online donations is https://www.pacfgivingtuesday.com/ .

The window for online Giving Tuesday donations will begin on November 14th (early bird donations) and continue until the end of day (11:59pm) on Tuesday, November 28th.

Select “Oak Grove School Endowed Fund” for the donation.

Enter the applicable payment information.

Donate in Person

(via cash, check, or credit card) at the LCC Event Center in Parsons on November 28th

Time: 7:00 am – 7:00 pm

Location: LCC Cardinal Event Center, 1306 Main, Parsons

Be sure to visit the Oak Grove display table to learn more about the Oak Grove program and to also register for one of several raffle drawings for a free copy of “Little House on the Prairie”!!!

Please note that all Giving Tuesday donations to the Oak Grove School Endowed Fund are tax deductible. The Oak Grove School Historical Society, Inc. and the Parsons Area Community Foundation (PACF) are both 501-c3 organizations, but receipts for Giving Tuesday donations will be issued by the PACF.

Thank you so very much for considering this invitation. Your donations will truly bless the school children of southeast Kansas. If you have any questions about the Oak Grove program or the Giving Tuesday donation process, you can email questions to oakgroveschoolhouse@gmail.com. And if you have not yet had the chance to see Oak Grove in its fully restored condition – or if you would like to visit it again – please send us an email and we would love to arrange a time for you to visit the school.