Provincial government funding doesn’t cover all the needs at local schools, which is where the Friends of Foothills Schools Foundation is stepping in.
Conceived more than two years ago, the foundation, which operates at an arms-length from the Foothills School Division, started ramping up efforts earlier this year after receiving its charitable status.
“We saw our vision as to sort of try to remove some financial barriers that impede academic success for kids, from kindergarten to Grade 12, within the Foothills School Division,” said Larry Albrecht, who is chair of the foundation’s five-member board.
“Our mission is to build a community that empowers all students. The Foothills School Division does an amazing job educating our students, but we also know that there's a need, perhaps beyond some of the funding that is provided by the government of Alberta.”
Still in its infancy, the foundation hired part-time executive director Marica Law early this year and has been building relationships inside the division, including meeting with parent councils at each school, and beyond by reaching out to potential funding sources.
That leg work has helped determine where dollars will come from and how they will be spent.
Albrecht said the foundation has identified three areas where it can provide assistance, including what it has termed 'enhanced learning support,' which could be anything from mental health to technology.
The other areas include ‘emergency relief for families,’ which could pay for field trips, supplies, meals and more, and ‘empowering flourishing communities’ that would help fund innovative projects.
Albrecht said the foundation is creating a process whereby educators, parents, school councils or students can apply for funding.
“We're very realistic,” he said. “We know that it takes up to five years for any foundation to become fully sustainable, so we're starting off small.”
The foundation is taking a two-pronged approach to fundraising, the first of which is to hold two or three major events a year. It’s kicking things off with the Fore Education golf tournament at Highwood Golf Club in High River on Aug. 20. Registration for the tournament is now open.
“That's our initial event, so we're really, really excited and we want it to be very successful,” Albrecht said. “We've set a target of $35,000, which would get us off to a good start in the fall to be able to help some kids.”
The other fundraising component is to tap into grants, endowments and benevolent donors to develop a fund that could be used to fulfill requests.
“We don't believe that we can be sustainable if we’re having to do a fundraising activity for everything that we may want to fund. That becomes unmanageable,” he said.
As a retired principal and former chair of the Foothills School Division board, Albrecht said he’s well aware of the needs within the system.
“I could think of 100 examples without much exaggeration that would be the sort of instances where the foundation could help,” he said. “I know it's cliche to say that kids are our future but that's the reality, so anything we might be able to do to increase their likelihood of succeeding is important.”
For more information on the foundation or to register for the golf tournament, visit foothillsschooldivision.ca/foothillsfriends.
