Bringing All Students Hope: Join the 2020 PEF BASH Live-Stream!

This year has been a year like no other! Let’s have some fun for a night and experience our shared community spirit at the 2020 PEF BASH. The longtime signature event supporting the mission of the Petaluma Educational Foundation (PEF) is proceeding with the party on September 12th, but the format of the event will change. A new FREE to attend online live-stream broadcast (virtual) gala will keep the spirit of the BASH alive in a year that our students and schools need the community's support like never before. The BASH: Bringing All Students Hope invites the public to tune-in, watch, bid, pledge, and celebrate from the comfort of their own homes.

On Saturday, September 12th, PEF will host another legendary night benefiting the mission of PEF supporting all 12,000+ students attending the 38 TK-12 public, not-for-profit, and charter schools in the Petaluma area. Enjoy a FREE interactive one-hour presentation filled with music, special messages, Taste of the Town Restaurant Raffle drawings, live auction lots, and more. All this excitement leads to the gala’s traditional highlight of the night, where the essence of the program's message about financially supporting every student truly takes center stage.

Funding the Future of education has never been more important. PEF, which does not receive any government funding, is committed to ensuring that vital resources are available to all our schools. The annual PEF BASH provides the public an opportunity to hear first-hand how they can partner with others to continue to the mission of the foundation. This year that message is no different. Now more than ever, our students need us.

Special 2020 PEF Grant Fund
PEF has convened our superintendents and principals to clearly understand the individual school priorities during this unprecedented year. At the BASH, we will issue a challenge to our community to help address the shared immediate needs identified to keep our students on solid footing. The two initiatives for 2020-2021 PEF Grant funding will focus on Social-Emotional Learning Support (SEL) and Technology (tools and access). Both can be successfully implemented regardless of on-campus instruction, distance learning, or a hybrid of the two modalities.

This year PEF has established a fund dedicated to supporting these two specific program areas. Our fund goal is $200,000. As you know, this type of effort requires partners. We are asking the community to collectively raise their virtual paddles enabling EVERY one of the 38 schools in the Petaluma area the opportunity to apply and receive partner funding. By doing this, our community will help students to confidently move forward knowing we believe in them, we empower them, and together, we are investing in their future. All those pledging support will be publicly celebrated during the live-stream broadcast. We recognize this is a challenging year for many. Your commitment to PEF will carry an impact on generations to come. Our students NEED us more than ever. We MUST do this now so they can succeed today, tomorrow, and in the future.

Register FREE online (pefbash2020.afrogs.org) and view the menu of special BASH event add-on items: Pre-Order Dinner (3 entrees to choose from) by Ray's Catering Petaluma Pop Up Kitchen, Access to the Virtual VIP Happy Hour with local mixologist Phaedra Achor of FloraLuna Apothecary & Trading Co., Order one of the BASH Custom Cocktail Kits to make at home, Pre-Pledge $25 and receive a bottle of wine to enjoy during the BASH event.

Our annual PEF Partners for Education – Clover Sonoma, Petaluma Health Care District, and Petaluma Market along with our Valedictorian partner Exchange Bank are this year's top-tier sponsors. This year we welcome Edward Jones Petaluma and Friend of PEF as our Salutatorian Partners. Our Honor Roll level Partners include: Argus-Courier, Baldwin, McGaughey & Co LLP CPAs, Fishman Supply Co, Golden State Lumber, Hennessy Cornerstone Value Fund, Law Offices of Bridget Mackay, Pisenti & Brinker, LLP, Quattrocchi Kwok Architects, River City Bank, Ross Recreation Equipment, Team Ghilotti, Inc, The Regan Home Loan Group, along with our Teacher’s Pet level partners: Cal-West Rents/Encore Events Rentals, Comcast, Dow Development Laboratories, Kaiser Permanente, Raymond A. Ramos, DDS & Associates Pediatric Dentistry, Roman's Plumbing, Sonoma County Office of Education, Studio PR, Top Speed Data Communications, and Study Sync. Without the financial pledge of these local and regional businesses, the event would not be possible. We are grateful for their dedication to making sure supporting local education is a priority in our community.

The Petaluma Educational Foundation (PEF) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization founded in 1982. PEF has been supporting generations of Petaluma’s Transitional Kindergarten (TK) – 12th grade students. The mission of PEF since its inception is: Every child has a dream. The Petaluma Educational Foundation creates community partnerships to fulfill these dreams.

PEF Grant and Scholarship programs have awarded a cumulative $7,580,695
to enhance and enrich the academic experience of more than 12,000 students in Petaluma’s 38 public, charter, and not-for-profit private schools. We believe in them. We empower them.
We invest in their future.