Livonia PTSA Council Courier

Wednesday, February 25, 2026. Doors open at 5:30 pm, dinner at 6:00 pm

Hellenic Cultural Center, 36375 Joy Rd, Westland, MI 48185

Last call to submit your headcount for the event, as well as payment. It is due by Friday, February 6th.

Please make checks payable to LIVONIA PTSA COUNCIL and mail them to: Andrea Malenfant 11303 Cranston Livonia, MI 48150. If you are cutting it close, drop it off rather than risk ir being late.

Let’s talk centerpieces!

Each unit will need to create a centerpiece for their table(s). Centerpieces will follow the same theme as Reflections – this year’s theme is “I Belong”. Get creative! A team of judges will be awarding some FABULOUS PRIZES! Centerpieces should be unique and NOT THE SAME as the previous year. Once judging of the centerpieces commences, DO NOT MOVE YOUR CENTERPIECE FROM THE TABLE UNTIL THE EVENT HAS CONCLUDED. Also, ALL centerpieces must be taken home, or they will be discarded.

Upload your photos for the slideshow by February 18. You MUST LABEL your photos.

Founders’ Day Google album: https://photos.app.goo.gl/hYeSm9p9yhyH7PnE7 The link will be closed after the 18th.

50/50 Raffle!

There will be a 50/50 Raffle again this year! Will you be the lucky winner?! Be sure to bring some cash! Good luck!

Questions?

Either your Council liaison or the Founders’ Day chair: Andrea Malenfant andrea.malenfant@livoniaptsacouncil.org

Overall Best Chili Award winner, Matt Sutela, representing Roosevelt Elementary.

Thank you to the Livonia Kiwanis Early Risers for sponsoring this award.

The Collins family from Grant Elementary took home the win for

People's Choice for the 2nd year in a row! Congratulations!

Hottest Chili Winner, the Parnell family, representing Cooper Upper Elementary.

Jennifer Collins and family were also the winners of the

Best Dressed Table award! They were representing Grant Elementary.

Congratulations Niji-Iro PTA for being the very first winner of the

Mike Ulaszek "Most Unique Chili" award. This award was created to honor the legacy of

Mike Ulaszek, a long time Chili Cook-Off entrant who always had a unique Chili recipe!

Thank you to the F&J Legacy Fund for sponsoring this award.

Can you believe it's already February?!?! Don't think you can continue to gain more members? There's still a lot of the school year left to plan events and do some amazing things for your students and staff. Members can help with these ideas, planning events, decorating, organizing and so much more!

Is someone new interested in joining the Executive Board next year? Make sure they're a member this year and eligible to be on your slate.

Remember, for all new members, please remit your Michigan PTA dues by the 28th of every month.

Kindly,

Nicole Dant

Treasurer and Membership Chair

As always please make sure you cc me on any emails that could earn you points!! Lets have a great 2026!!

Please feel free to reach out with any questions and I will do my best to answer them or find the answer. You can email me at pep@livoniaptsacouncil.org

The current standings are below. If you feel like some points haven’t been entered please reach out and we can get any mistakes or omissions corrected.

Keadin Parish

Council Vice President 1 and PEP chair

Please include school and description of event for each picture.

As we kick off a new year, our PTA board has been energized by the chance to reconnect and celebrate together. We hosted a belated holiday gathering filled with good food, fun games, and thoughtful gift exchanges — a wonderful reminder of the strong sense of community that makes our work so meaningful. Starting the year by celebrating one another has set a positive tone for the months ahead.

At our school, excitement is building as we prepare for our annual VIP Dance, and this year we’re rolling out the red carpet with a Hollywood theme! Planning is underway to make this event a memorable night for our students and their special guests. We’re also accepting submissions for our Yearbook Cover Contest, giving students the opportunity to showcase their creativity by designing their own cover.

In addition, we’re proud to support Battle of the Books, cheering on our students as they dive into reading and teamwork. With so much happening, we’re thrilled for what the rest of the year holds and grateful to be part of such an engaged and supportive PTA community. Here’s to a fantastic year ahead!

We had another great month at Cleveland! The students are loving the spirit sticks that are new this year. We sell them at every event and also go around the school once a month. We also did a PF Changs night out, skate night and our annual spirit wear fundraiser (this year we chose to use a local company which cut down on cost per clothing option!).

Coolidge PTA has been busy offering students opportunities to complete their Youth Making A Difference projects during recess. Over 200 students have had the chance to work on no-sew fleece blankets for Sinai Grace Hospital or Valentine's cards for local assisted living facilities during their recess. Over 20 families joined us for our YMAD family night event where each family had the opportunity to create a no-sew fleece blanket that will be donated to Sinai Grace Hospital. We have donated over 60 blankets so far and have hundreds of cards to donate next month!

Our DEIB chair updated our monthly bulletin board. This month's theme is "Warm Up with Kindness." Students enjoy being able to see the new themes each month!

Our next dining for donations fundraiser will take place on Monday, February 16th at Portillo's. Take a break from preparing lunch or dinner and join us at Portillo's. Show the flyer or mention our cause and we will receive 20% of all sales. If ordering online, use code "PORTILLOS75"

We have rescheduled our movie night event to Friday 2/27 after mother nature had other plans with a snow day. We are excited to give families an opportunity to get together after school and relax with an evening movie in our gym.

February is gearing up to be a busy month with YMAD projects, a Riverside skate night, movie night and the start of our spring book fair!

January might be the longest month ever!! With that being said, we did have a couple of things we focused on this month. Once again, we had two Dine and Donates at Chipotle and Famous Dave's!

With it being so cold out, it was perfect timing for some of our amazing families to support the Livonia PTSA Council at the Chili Cook Off! Congratulations to the Parnell Family for taking home the Hottest Chili Award!! Bring on the HEAT and look at how cute the Smith Family's Jeopardy themed table was!!

One of our goals this year has been getting more students involved! This year, we had an incredible amount of student participate in Reflections! We had nine projects that won at the district level and have gone on to the state competition! We are so proud of everyone who was part of Reflections this year!

Kennedy was busy during December and January!

Back in December, Kennedy offered a fun skate night at Riverside, a dine-out at Buddy’s pizza, a book for each student to take home for the holidays (and keep!), and a catered lunch for the staff. It was a busy month but full of so much fun and festivities.

In January, Kennedy’s PTA kicked off with a membership contest. A $25 gift card is at stake for any new members before our February PTA meeting, along with a raffle for the members who attend our January and February PTA meetings.

Kennedy offered a yummy dine-out at Qdoba during the month of January and as always had a nice turnout. Who doesn’t want to take a night off from cooking and support the school at the same time?

Our Kennedy PTA Board is proud to share four students from our school will be advancing to the state competition in the Reflections contest. The winners include categories in literature, dance choreography and visual arts. Way to go Kennedy Stars!

All in all, it’s been a fun couple of months over at Kennedy Elementary. We hope everyone continues to stay warm!

Webster Elementary PTA has stayed busy this January! We hosted a Dine Out Fundraiser for our PTA with Panera Bread on January 6th, right when we got back from Winter Break. It had a great turn out, even with some bad weather we experienced that day. We were happy with how it went!

Webster PTA also hosted a Skate Night at Riverside Arena on Sunday, January 18th. This date worked out nicely with having the next day, Monday, off of school. The students had a fun time, getting to see each other outside of school in a different environment. This is a great event for parents to connect as well.

Webster Elementary hosted its 3rd annual student Talent Show last month, assisted by our PTA. We held auditions to make sure students were prepared for the show and the PTA helped with the behind-the-scenes of planning and organization. We had two shows throughout the day on Friday, January 30th. Parents were encouraged to come and see their child perform as well. It's a really fun event and we had more students sign up this year than we've ever had.

We just had our fourth Bagel Day and the process is becoming smoother each time. We pick up the bagels from Detroit Bagel Factory on a Tuesday morning, bright and early, and distribute them to classes right as students were arriving. Some classes save theirs for a snack later in the day but most enjoy them first thing! We have over 160 students participating this year and it's something they look forward to every month!

Reflections winners were announced last month and Webster had 16 winners. We are so proud of our Wildcats and are grateful for all who participated.

If you are a PTA/PTSA officer or committee chair, please make sure to join our group for important information, discussions, and more! Be sure to answer the questions when you request to join. A lot of great information is shared on this closed group page. It's also a great way to network with other units, share ideas, and ask for help.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/541318689333449/

Michigan PTA Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/everychildonevoice

National PTA Website: https://www.pta.org/

National PTA Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ParentTeacherAssociation

National PTA Blog: https://onevoice.pta.org/

The Livonia PTSA Council is a group of 22 local PTA/PTSA Units within the Livonia Public Schools District. The Council is organized under the authority of the Michigan PTA for the purpose of promoting conferences, communications, leadership development and coordination of the efforts of the local units.

Interested in joining Council? There are chair opportunities available! Contact President Mandy Gerstenbrand at president@livoniaptsacouncil.org

Email: newsletter@livoniaptsacouncil.org
Website: www.livoniaptsacouncil.org
Location: 15125 Farmington Road, Livonia, MI, USA
Facebook: facebook.com/LivoniaPTSACouncil
Twitter: @LivoniaPTSAC