(Geronimo) – Don’t forget to try your luck at adopting a “lucky duck” for this year’s Navarro Education Foundation Duck Fest. A handful of prizes are again up for grabs during this year’s foundation fundraiser and Duck Drop to be held Friday at Navarro Intermediate School.
In past years, the festival has dumped the rubber ducks in local waterways or on the football field via a helicopter. But this year, the group decided to again scale down the event just like it did last year and return the event to the campus so that local students can join in on the fun.
Experiencing that fun, however, will only be the students at the winning campus. NEF President Katie Clark says for weeks, students have been competing to see which campus can sell the most ducks. Not only will that winning campus principal earn a pie in the face, but Clark says students will get to watch as the ducks are dumped from the ceiling of the Intermediate School gym for the annual Duck Drop.
“We are dropping the ducks from a bag. The students are going to count down and then the bag will be pulled, and the ducks will be dropped and the closest ones to the target will be collected, and they have little numbers on the bottom,” said Clark.
Clark says those winning numbers will be matched to each of the adopted ducks affording folks the chance to snag some great prizes.
“Some of the top prizes that are included—there’s a mobile petting zoo to go to your home for two hours. There’s also VISA gift cards for $250; $100; $100 Academy gift card; Costa backpack, Stars & Stripes Drive In movie tickets; a ZDT All Access Pass for you and a friend and a $50 VISA gift card and a $50 Amazon gift card and a party at (Party Up) Balloon Arrangement,” said Clark.
This year’s Duck Fest festivities mark a milestone for the Navarro Education Foundation which has been hosting this Duck Drop fundraiser for the past 20 years. Over those 20 years, Clark says the district has been able to successfully distribute $800,000 in educational grants. She says teachers each year apply for the competitive grants. The grants essentially help educators purchase innovative teaching tools and programs that otherwise cannot be afforded through the regular school budget.
She says over the course of the years, it has been the community and business sponsors along with each of the purchased ducks that have helped grow the foundation’s efforts. She says each major sponsor has an honored role in helping to make a difference.
“We really want to thank our sponsors. The sponsors are really what make this happen. We have Tracy and Kara Large; Perry Homes; AG/CM; Caterpillar and Seguin Chevrolet. They are some of our top sponsors and the great thing that happens in the fall is whenever we give grants, all of our sponsors that have sponsored $1,000 or more get to attend that Grant Day and walk the hall and see the excitement on the teacher’s faces whenever they tell their students that they are getting a classroom grant and a classroom grant are up to $3,000 each now,” said Clark.
Ducks can be adopted or purchased for $5 each. Again, the adopted rubber ducks that drop closest to the target on the gym floor will win prizes. To purchase a duck visit navarroisd.us/net. A QR code is also available on the district’s website or on the Navarro Education Foundation Facebook page.