Education Foundation funds innovative grants

By JANET COOK
News staff writer

Thursday night’s Trail Band concert at Hood River Middle School was another successful event for the Hood River County Education Foundation.

“We had a great concert and we made money,” said Mike Schend, foundation president. The number of attendees, 600, was down slightly from past years, and the amount of money raised is still being counted, but Schend was upbeat.

“Overall, it was a great event to start the holiday season, and we appreciate the number of people who attend every year and make it a family tradition,” he said.

The money will go directly to fund teacher grants for innovative programs that fall outside the scope of the regular school district budget.

“We’re getting more and more response every year from teachers as we have more budget cuts,” Schend said. Teachers from any school in the district can write grant proposals for the foundation. The 15-member foundation board then reviews and votes to approve as many as its budget allows.

“The applications we get are all from teachers who feel they need some project or material to make student learning the best it can be,” Schend said. “They spend a lot of time thinking about how it’s going to be implemented.”

Most proposed grants are for projects or materials that will benefit students for years, according to Schend.

Schend said last year the foundation received about 40 grant proposals, of which 20 were awarded, totaling nearly $17,000.

“We’ve been able to fund some really interesting things — a greenhouse at Wy’east Middle School, several science- and math-oriented projects,” Schend said. “We’ve also purchased special books and maps.”

Teachers have until the middle of January to write their grant proposal and submit it to the foundation. Grants are awarded in February.

The Hood River County Education Foundation also awards approximately $50,000 in student scholarships every year — making it the largest scholarship contributor in the county.

The foundation was started in 1992, but “floundered” for a few years, according to Schend.

“It was hard to get people to understand what it is,” he said.

The foundation is not a part of the school district, but is a separate entity. Money raised and donated to the foundation is put in several funds that are managed by Edward Jones.

The foundation board is made up of “retirees, orchardists, business people — people truly interested in what this foundation does,” Schend said. He added that there is always room for more board members.

Education foundations exist elsewhere, but are fairly innovative and not all that common, according to Schend.

“We all believe in it,” he said. “We’ve made an impact on the kids in this county.”

For more information, go to the Hood River County Education Foundation website at www.hrcef.org.