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History
1995-1999
In 1995 some Ashland parents, lead by Meg Whitehead, Claudia Bennett, Roberta
Lesser, Nancy Stevens, Delores Markey, Elizabeth Manning and Judy Leavey
among others, started the Ashland Education Foundation with the mission to
provide financial support to Ashland K-12 school teachers for special projects
not covered in their annual budget.
The founders, through the generosity of lawyer and parent Tom Sannicandro,
devoted many hours to formally establish the Foundation as a non-profit organization,
complete with its own by-laws, tax ID, bank account and P.O. box.
The parent volunteers raised funds through unique means. The Thank-a-Teacher
program (which we now call GIFTS, Gifts of Innovation For Teachers and Staff)
invited parents to make a donation to the fund in their teacher's name at
the holidays and year end, in lieu of having the children bring teachers
individual gifts. A formal letter was provided to the teacher recognizing
the donation, and teachers were encouraged to apply to the Foundation for
grants.
Other fundraisers included community dinner dances, auctions, marathons,
and carnivals for education and an Annual Appeal. During these five years,
the Foundation was able to award over $25,000.00 in grants for innovative
programs, many of which are still providing value in our schools today.
In 1999 the founding parents, having fulfilled their original mission, moved
on to other commitments and the Foundation sat dormant for the next two and
a half years.
2002-2003
In 2002, parents Cece Doucette and Cindy Hoyle worked with Ashland Superintendent
Dr. Richard Hoffmann to refocus the Foundation's mission. They spent most
of this time setting up the infrastructure and a development strategy, which
was made possible by commitments from several key volunteers and community
members. Parent Melanie Hay lent her accounting expertise to manage the legal/tax
filings; parent Cindy (Cerullo) Shields designed the Foundation's brochure
and Bruen Printing & Envelope graciously donated printing services. Parent
Steve Vinter help to develop a fundraising database, and parent Trish O'Brien
managed the finances.
Since 1999, Ashland's Parent Teacher Organization grew significantly and
now hosts many community fundraising activities each year. The Ashland Business
Association and others have been extremely supportive of these events and
the Ashland Education Foundation, Inc. does not want to take undue advantage
of their willingness to help our schools. The Foundation, therefore, is focusing
its development strategies on businesses and corporations within the surrounding
community, with limited requests to the parents and Ashland Business Association
members.
2004-2005
In January 2004, a 13 member board of directors representing community leaders,
business leaders, local professionals, local and state officials and educators
was formed. Together they further defined the AEFI mission, vision and goals.
In April 2004, the board launched the Computer
Sponsorship Program to raise funds
to replace outdated computers at the Henry Warren
Elementary School. After a successful campaign, the AEFI launched a second
Computer Sponsorship Program
in May 2005 to replace the aging computers at the David Mindess School.
Over the summer of 2004 we engaged the generous
volunteer services of parent Selina Joseph who designed and maintains this
web site for us. In September/October 2004 the Foundation held its first
raffle with prizes generously donated by Staples, Inc. Our new treasurer,
Kris Snow, joined the board to replace outgoing treasurer, Trish O’Brien.
In May of both years, an Awards Ceremony was
held to honor not only the teachers
receiving grants but also
the Foundation’s most generous donors
and supporters. Over $5,000.00
in grants were awarded in 2004, and we were pleased
to see that expand to $7200 in 2005.
2006-2007
We expanded our grant-giving cycle to twice a year, in the fall and the spring. This allows Ashland educators to prepare grant applications over the quieter summer months.
We continued our tradition of honoring our generous supporters and innovative educators at our spring Fundraising Dinner and Grant Awards Ceremony. In 2006, Staples Corporation generously sponsored this event at their home offices in Framingham and we raised over $5,000 in ticket sales, silent auction items and a heads/tails raffle for future teacher grant awards. In 2007, the Ashland Lions hosted this event in our new High School dining hall, with a gourmet meal prepared by Fran Blake and his family, Peter and Barbara Chisholm, and a host of community volunteers. Both evenings featured an insightful overview of MA education by our state legislators, and Dr. Hoffmann presented videos he produced showcasing the prior year’s grant recipient programs. In 2006 we awarded over $12,000 in grants, and look to mirror that this year.
In 2007, a new technology issue developed at the Middle School. When the sixth graders moved to that campus to join the seventh and eighth graders, the existing computers were no longer enough to service the 600+ students there. With no money in the school budget to equip another dedicated media lab, which would have required not only 30 computers but wiring and furniture as well, the AEFI worked with administrators and the PTO to launch the Middle School Mobile Computer Lab Campaign. We raised funds to purchase 30 laptops housed on two mobile wireless carts that can be used by teachers in their own classrooms to imbed technology into the curriculum.
The GIFTS program continues to gain increasing favor with Ashland families, as each campaign brings in $2-3,000 for future teacher grants. We look forward to implementing our GIFTS program each December and June, and especially to awarding Teacher Grants throughout the year!
The Ashland Education Foundation, Inc. has been organized
as a non-profit corporation under Mass. General Law's Chapter 180, exclusively
for charitable and educational purposes within the meaning of Section
501 (c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954.
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