Spreading a Thick Coat of Kindness

Garrison Mill families shared kindness in the warmest way this week by donating hundreds of items of cold weather gear – coats, gloves, sweatshirts and more.

The coat drive is part of the Raise Craze fundraiser by the Garrison Mill Education Foundation (GMEF).

GMEF is a parent-led, nonprofit that creates real-world student experiences in science, technology, engineering, arts and math – an integrated approach to view the world known as STEAM.

While the fundraiser allows GMEF to do things like buy new musical instruments, provide robots, maintain the Learning Garden, support Publix Math Night, the main currency is kindness.

Raise Craze rewards Greyhounds for acts of kindness throughout the week with the hope that the lessons will remain with them for a lifetime.

Coat Notes: Warmth Beyond the Garment

Examples of kindness are the “Coat Notes” that students are writing. The notes will be placed in the pockets of the donated winter wear so that recipients will feel warmth beyond the garment.

A coat note written by a kind Greyhound student.

“I hope you love this new coat. It will keep and cozy,” read one coat note, decorated by a crayon-colored rainbow and a hand drawn heart. “Have a great year. You are loved by so many people.”

The coat drive runs through Friday, Jan. 16 at Garrison Mill.

RAISE CRAZE

Warming Hearts Through Kindness This Winter

Raise Craze is a simple, meaningful fundraiser that focuses on kindness, gratitude, and giving back. There’s nothing to sell! Instead, students ask family and friends for donations and thank them by completing Acts of Kindness.

🗓 Fundraiser Dates: Now through Jan. 22

✨ How It Works

❄️Students REGISTER ONLINE and create a secure, custom webpage

❄️They share their page with friends and family via email, text, or social media

❄️Donors support our school

❄️Students pay it forward by completing Acts of Kindness

🎥 Watch the “How It Works” video to see just how easy and sweet it is.

💙 Kindness Challenge

Let’s make this winter snow much fun by spreading kindness, gratitude, and warm hearts throughout our community

💙 Join the Kindness Crew! 💙
Help bring the Raise Craze excitement to life for our students. It’s fun, rewarding, and full of smiles!

👉 Learn more & sign up

If you’d like to be part of spreading kindness and school spirit, we’d love to have you join us!

🎨✨ Garrison Mill Fine Arts Night & Winter Sing Along

Available Now as Album Download 🎶❄️

Did you miss the annual Fine Arts Night and Chorus Winter Sing Along on Dec. 11? It's now available as an album download.

The Garrison Mill cafeteria and gym burst with color, music and holiday cheer as hundreds of students, parents, teachers and friends came together.

👩‍🎨 Art Everywhere!
Families and friends admired and purchased beautifully framed student paintings, helping raise funds for our art program led by the amazing Ms. Rebecca Lopez and supported by the parent-powered Garrison Mill Education Foundation (GMEF).

👖 Denim Makeover Magic!
Students rolled up their sleeves and transformed gently used denim into one-of-a-kind fashion pieces using fabric paint and markers. These creative masterpieces will shine again during STEAM Night in February, where they’ll be auctioned off to support science, technology, engineering, arts and math opportunities at Garrison Mill.

🎶 Holiday Tunes & Cheer!

The Garrison Mill Chorus, directed by the festive and fun Ms. Colleen Crotty (who wowed the crowd in her North Pole-inspired outfit), filled the night with joyful holiday songs. The audience clapped, sang along and left with hearts full of joy and music.

⚾ Big News!

Ms. Crotty shared an exciting announcement: our talented Chorus has been invited to perform the National Anthem at Truist Park on Father’s Day, June 21, 2026, when the Atlanta Braves take on the Milwaukee Brewers! 🎤🇺🇸

✨ It was a night of creativity, community, and celebration—a perfect reminder of how art and music bring us all together.

STEAM is the primary focus of the Garrison Mill Education Foundation, which delivers hands-on student opportunities in STEAM throughout the year.

STEAMing Into the New School Year!

Garrison Mill Education Foundation was proud to support the Welcome Back to School Staff Luncheon with a special STEAM Raffle Giveaway! Each raffle basket was thoughtfully curated to represent one of the five STEAM pillars: Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math.

Our goal was to show appreciation for our amazing educators while also celebrating the foundation’s commitment to fostering curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking through STEAM initiatives.

Each themed basket included fun, engaging items tied to:

S – The Science of Baking & Cooking
T – Technology Lover
E – Engineering Structure
A – The Art of Self-Care
M – The Math is Math-ing

Thank you to our volunteers for making this STEAM raffle a fun and meaningful experience. We’re excited to refocus our efforts and funding toward expanding STEAM programing across the school. We are committed to helping bring even more opportunities for hand-on, creative learning into our kids classrooms for all the STEAM-powered learning ahead in 2025!

Congratulations to Mrs. Diegnan, Mrs. Latimer, Mrs. McReynolds, Ms. Whittle, & Mrs. Cady!