DEF: Raising Friends for Schools
The Dare Education Foundation (DEF) just kicked off their 2012 series of Friend-raising events at each of the Dare County Schools (DCS). These events are one hour long, open to the general public, free to attend and absolutely no donations are solicited from DEF during the events.
After light refreshments, the program begins with a short presentation about DEF and the work they are doing in the schools. This is followed by a tour. The tour highlights exciting projects that even parents that are very active in their children’s school may not know much about. It also gives the school a chance to identify and demonstrate needs they have on-site.
For example, at the Manteo Middle School Friend-raising on February 1st, Principal Terry McGinnis was able to demonstrate the need for industrial-strength sound suppression ceiling tiles in one of the classrooms. The extent of the need is hard to grasp unless you are actually standing in the room and experiencing what the students hear.
The main reason behind these events though, is to inform and engage the community – whether the attendee is a parent, grandparent or even someone without children in the local schools. At the Nags Head Elementary School event on January 26th, an attendee told DEF’s Executive Director, Elisabeth Piff, that if “[DEF] is looking for a big donation, they just wasted a cup of coffee because I cannot afford to give a bunch of money”. However, Piff stresses that while donations are absolutely necessary to continue the work that they do, everyone in our community has something they can contribute and DEF would like to help leverage those resources as well. It may be that you have time to volunteer to help a class, or that you can speak to a class about a certain career field, etc.
The next two Friend-raising events are planned for February 15th at Manteo Elementary School at 8:30 am, and on February 29th at Cape Hatteras Secondary School with the time still to be determined. Attendees are asked to arrive a few minutes early so that they can check-in before the program begins.
If you are interested in attending, please contact Elisabeth Piff at 255-5545.
The Dare Education Foundation is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization whose mission is to promote excellence in education through active partnership with the community. For more information, please see www.DareEducationFoundation.org.
Photo and copy: Elisabeth Piff