Eagle View Elementary School students designed the carnival buttons, which are on sale at area businesses for $5 to help raise funds for the PTA. A button is needed to get into the March 5 carnival, or buy a button as a PTA donation.

As hard as it is to get over the shock of one of their own stealing money, Eagle View Elementary School PTA members are moving forward.

Jerry Braam, Pequot Lakes police chief who arrested PTA co-treasurer Sarah Ann Barnum for allegedly forging checks to steal more than $10,000 from the PTA, said it's important not to view the PTA in a bad light.

People in the Pequot Lakes School community should support the PTA even more now than before to get the organization back on its feet, Braam said.

And that's just what people are doing.

Jill Andersen, PTA president, said people have been very supportive.

"My e-mail hasn't stopped, and it's all positive, which is really encouraging," Andersen said Monday. "My first thought was, 'Oh, my goodness, no one's going to want to have anything to do with us.'"

Instead, people are asking how they can help. Andersen and other PTA members have addressed ways people can help those PTA-funded school events that are now in jeopardy.

The PTA is accepting cash donations. Checks may be sent to Lakes State Bank, PLS PTA, PO Box 366, Pequot Lakes, MN 56472.

Or people may donate directly to the PTA's PayPal account that is being set up.

Also, Chase on the Lake in Walker will match up to $1,000 in pledges made to the PTA on the Chase on the Lake Facebook page. Lakes State Bank must receive the funds by 4 p.m. Friday, Feb. 19, to be matched.

Simply go to the Chase on the Lake Facebook page and pledge via a posting how much you will donate to the PTA. Then stop by or mail donations to Lakes State Bank at the above address.

Jamie Tatge, general manager at Chase on the Lake, lives in the Pequot Lakes School District and has young children. It was Tatge who alerted Andersen that PTA funds were being spent at Chase on the Lake, which he thought an odd expenditure for school funds.

That set in motion the investigation that resulted in Barnum's arrest and felony charges.

Tatge said providing the $1,000 match is just the right thing to do.

"We wanted to do the right thing and try to make them (PTA) whole again," Tatge said. "If we can get $2,000 back into the account before the carnival, that'd be great."

The PTA currently is raising funds by selling carnival buttons for $5 throughout the area. While the buttons are intended to be used as admission to the March 5 carnival at Eagle View Elementary School, people can also buy a button as a show of support for students.

You can buy buttons in Pequot Lakes at Lakes Latte, Snap Fitness, SuperAmerica, Echo Publishing & Printing, Wild Hair, Pequot Lakes Library, Oasis convenience store and Landis + Gyr; in Breezy Point at Little People Learning Center and Munchies; and in Crosslake at ProFuel, Lake Country Crafts and Cones, Reed's Market, Crosslake Drug and Maucieri's.

People who don't have extra cash but still want to help can collect Boxtops for Education, Campbell's points and Kemps milk caps and drop them off at Eagle View or Northern Food King. Or they can volunteer to help at the March 5 carnival or join the PTA.

The organization was in danger of folding before this year because of a lack of board members. Volunteers like Andersen stepped forward to keep the organization going.

"The PTA appreciates the show of support for our schools. We will not allow the actions of one person to harm our children's educational experience. Thank you very much!" the PTA wrote.

Andersen said an e-mail she received also summed up feelings: "It's too bad our kids have to pay the consequences of a parent's choices."

To contact PTA board members, e-mail PLSPTA@hotmail.com.

Events or items the PTA still hopes to fund this year include the second-grade grandparents day celebration, popcorn parties, teacher/paraprofessional appreciation days, field trips for all grades, healthy snacks for MCA testing days, Fun Books for Kids (free book reward for reading achievements), books for the Literacy Library (learn to read program), yearbooks and grant requests from teachers to supplement curriculum, extra supplies and activities.