It's been more than two decades since Santa Cruz City Councilwoman Lynn Robinson and her children attended Westside Parent Education Nursery School (WPENS), but she still carries the tattered roster of her children's classes, complete with the phone numbers to reach parents.

"I know this is dating me," Robinson said, "but this was before we used the Internet. It was our connection with other parents."

She still stays in contact with many of the families that participated in the co-operative learning environment created by the nursery school.

"It's an incredible resource," she said. "It's really a program to be supported. It really is not a lot of money to put out for a large return."

But WPENS and its sister schools, Santa Cruz Parent Education Nursery School and Soquel Parent Education Nursery School, are in dire financial straits, and the funding to keep the schools open another semester is uncertain right now.

Traditionally, a large chunk of the funding for the three schools comes from Santa Cruz Adult Education. But over the past summer, as the city's school district made cuts to the budget, one of the items to go was a significant portion of the adult education money.

These three schools essentially lost their funding, said Wendy Wyckoff, an 18-year veteran teacher at the nursery school. She estimated that at least 40 percent of the budget for the three schools was dependent on district funding.

"All of the teachers were laid off in the spring," she said. "And the only way that our nursery schools were able to open was the promise to raise money for the whole program."

Wyckoff said the school has used various means to raise money to keep the doors open.

"We have raised our tuition for the last two years pretty substantially," she said. "Poor parents have engaged in a lot of fundraising. Most of our budget is for our teachers to actually work. The frills are not there."

Graduates of the program, like Robinson and parents across the county, are banding together, hosting fundraiser after fundraiser to fill the holes in funding.

One such fundraiser, a gala event, is set for Thursday at Seymour Center at Long Marine Lab. Tickets cost $40 for singles and $65 for couples.

The fundraiser is also a celebration to honor seven teachers named Community Heroes by United Way from the three schools. They are Jeanne Carriere, Cory Cherk, Maggie Klepp, Nancy Samsel, Dara Thornton, Kim Woodland and Wendy Wyckoff.

To parents like Robinson, the school is not just a school—it's a complete community resource. And it's one reason she plans to speak at Thursday's gala fundraiser.

"It's really their first introduction to working with other kids and other parents in a structured setting," said Robinson of the co-operative learning environment. "It's a prelude to how you'd be engaged with your kids at an elementary school."

Randy Widera, the father of twin 4-year-old boys who attend the school, agrees.

"It's a really different experience from a preschool or a nursery school," he said. "The whole philosophy is to build great parents and build a great community."

Being involved with the school means he's required to spend time in the classroom—part of Widera's dedication to parenting.

"My wife and I are committed to being the best parents we can be, and what we find at WPENS is that there is so much to being a good parent. You just make it a priority." 

Widera said the preschool is a worthy cause for the community. "Once you start to see what a huge asset this is to the community," he said, "how it's the only affordable preschool, there's all these parts of it where you're like, 'This is something special and unique.' "

Marika Riggs, parent president of Soquel PENS, knows about the challenges of raising money. She lists the fundraisers her schools have done in the past, ticking them off.

"We've done coffee sales, chocolate sales, T-shirt sales, restaurant nights …" she said.

For her, the school fits her family perfectly. With a single-income family, she can afford to send her 5-year-old son several days a week and still be a stay-at-home mom.

"I was really drawn to coops because I went to co-ops when I was a kid in Mountain View, so I looked for co-ops in the area," she said. "It was so extremely affordable. It's a really affordable preschool program that offers so much family enrichment."

If you go:

What: Fundraiser and celebration for three Parent Education Nursery Schools

When: Thursday, Dec. 9, from 5:30-8:30 p.m.

Where: Seymour Center at Long Marine Lab, at the end of Delaware Avenue

Cost: $40 per person or $65 per couple. Tickets and more information are available at 3pens.org.

Featured speakers: Author Julie Olsen Edwards, Councilwoman Lynn Robinson, Bay Federal Credit Union CEO Carrie Birkhofer and former state Assemblymember Fred Keeley