Get Involved
There are many ways to be involved at Turtle Lake. Through volunteering, attending meetings, making donations, or becoming a PTA member you can make a difference in your child's grade school experience.
Turtle Lake is fortunate to have an active PTA that provides enrichment to all students and staff. While our fundraising has increased in recent years, we have many volunteer roles left unfilled resulting in a small amount of parents giving a lot of their time. Please consider becoming involved, even the smallest time commitment can help!
Become a Member
Become a member of the PTA and help determine how to best spend the money raised throughout the school year and enrich the lives of our students, families, and staff. Membership is $7.25 and includes access to resources from both the Minnesota and National PTA to help our children reach their highest potential. Turtle Lake PTA does not keep any money from membership dues, it passes through to the MNPTA and National PTA completely.
Not sure of the benefits of membership? Over the summer, the Department of Education froze nearly $7 Billion in funds allocated to afterschool enrichment, support for English language learners, rural technology needs, and efforts to recruit and retain high-quality teachers. The National PTA along with 193 state and local PTAs signed onto a letter (link here) requesting the Department of Education release the education funding frozen in early July. This many-week endeavor was successful and the nearly $7 Billion in . We often reference voting on Turtle Lake PTA matters as a benefit of membership, but all of our membership dues go to the Minnesota PTA and the National PTA to support advocacy efforts just like this.
Volunteer
All volunteers at Turtle Lake need to have a current background check on file with the school. Those forms are available here. Completed forms with a photocopy of ID can be emailed to turtlelake@mvpschools.org )(note, this is not the PTA email.)
2025 Event Volunteer Sign ups
- Spring Book Fair: https://turtlelakepta.membershiptoolkit.com/volunteer/164428
- Ongoing: 2025-2026 Thoughtful Thursdays
We have many ongoing needs ranging from helping prepare handouts to helping plan events, if you are interested in helping out please fill our our Volunteer Form.
Volunteer Interest Form "On Call" Volunteer Form
Open PTA Roles
Fall Festival Leads
- The Fall Festival is an established event, with a set timeline and process. There is room for creativity and new ideas, but it works well as is so changes are not required. We have a full team of people handling the various aspects (volunteers, games, tickets, baskets, etc.)
- We are looking for 1-2 leads to coordinate the Fall Festival Committee, schedule and lead meetings, file paperwork & event requests, and report updates to the board.
- Planning starts in August and runs through October. Daytime availability of at least one of the leads is required to be able to inventory the PTA closet and be available for pre-event set up. This is a larger time commitment (a few hours a week,) with most time availability needed closer to the event, but if you are only running the Fall Festival and not the entire PTA it is very doable and will be over shortly after the event. (Aug-Oct)
Gifts for Everyone Coordinators
- We need 2 leads for this program. This is a very time intensive position, with planning starting in October (or earlier) and continuing throughout December. A flexible schedule is required, as daytime availability to go to the school is required.
- The leads work closely with school administration throughout the process.
- Enjoyment of shopping helpful!
- The program has an established timeline and process, although there are changes every year depending on the needs of our community. (Oct-Dec)
Culture & Heritage Night Apprentice
- We are looking for someone to learn the process of this event and take over the Lead in 2027-2028.
- Organizing is mostly through email communications with a little errand-running to gather supplies. Some day time availability to gather supplies is helpful.
- Apprentice Time commitment: minimal, the apprentice would be copied on emails, included in possible planning meetings (~1hr), and expected to help set up for the event (2 hours.) (Dec-Feb)
- Lead Time Commitment: a few hours here and there to send/respond to emails. More time needed to gather supplies closer to event and set up prior to event. (Dec-Feb)
Staff Appreciation
- Plan Back to School Breakfast for staff (Late August)
- Plan and implement Staff Appreciation Week lunch and gifts (April through first week of May)
- Daytime availability required. (Aug, April-early May)
Communications Team
- Support Vice President in drafting weekly Turtle Tracks emails, social media posts, handouts (both electronic and paper), and updating the website.
- Time commitment: about 30 minutes a week. Daytime availability helpful but not required.
Family Fun Coordinator
- We are looking for a volunteer to organize the fundraiser nights (like Papa Murphy’s and Cheapskate,) author visits, and other casual social activities.
- Most of the work is done from home (filling out online forms or contacting local businesses.) It occasionally requires picking up the donation check from businesses.
- Coordinator can use existing contacts but there is a lot of room to explore different fundraising locations as well as other social activities for families outside of school.
- Time commitment varies and is as much or as little as you would like.
Detailed descriptions of all PTA roles can be found here: PTA Role Descriptions
Email TurtleLakePTA@gmail.com if you are interested in any open lead role!
Other Resources
All volunteers at the school during school hours need to have a current background check on file with the Turtle Lake front office. Starting in September of 2025, these forms need to be filled out every school year. Completed forms with a photocopy of ID can be emailed to turtlelake@mvpschools.org )(note, this is not the PTA email.)
Not able to volunteer now but want to keep up on what's going on with the PTA? Get on our email list!
Email List
Donate
We have an annual operating budget of $63,000 and allot only $11,700 to fundraising expenses and overhead. The rest of the money goes directly to classrooms, students, and events. The vast majority of our money comes from our two major fundraisers: the Fall Festival and the Read-a-Thon. We raise the rest of our funds by partnering with local businesses to host restaurant or fundraising nights or through direct donations. We also participate yearly in Give to the Max day in late November.
