Our Story
The concept for the Avon Education Foundation was introduced in 2006. A member of the school board, Pam DeWeese, saw the population growth in the township and the school corporation growing at an unprecedented rate while state funding for education was not increasing at the same rate. Pam started to research what other schools in Indiana were doing to address this same problem and learned that many schools were creating education foundations to assist with funding needs. Pam then reached out to the superintendent, as well as several other teachers and administrators within Avon Community School Corporation, with an idea to form an education foundation within Avon. These individuals formed the initial board of directors for what would become the Avon Education Foundation. These original board members were Pam DeWeese (founder), Tim Ogle, Nancy Shelbourne, Lori (Sampson) Rosemeyer, Linda Dobbs and Darcy Hall. These are the members listed on the application to the Secretary of State in the Articles of Incorporation. The first annual meeting of the founding members was held on May 10, 2007; however, the first “official” annual meeting was revised to be May 8, 2008.
The original concept was to provide Avon Community School Corporation teachers and departments with additional funding needs that had been cut due to the drop in state funding. This need became even greater during the 2008 recession, when the school corporation had no choice but to cut many different areas of funding including arts, athletics, field trips, and more. AEF provided much needed funds for these areas, so that teachers could still offer students opportunities for the “whole child” education that Avon is so passionate about.
As the Avon Education Foundation has continued to grow since it’s inception, so have programs and grant opportunities. AEF still provides ACSC staff grants annually, but has expanded its service offering throughout the year to support educational programs and needs in our classrooms and throughout the schools.
AEF offers a program we call our “SOS” Store, which stands for Supply Our Schools. We partner with the work study program at the high school whereby students are able to work at our store for the duration of the school year as a means to teach them to be employable upon high school graduation. Teachers and staff are able to fill out an online order form to order any school supplies needed. These supplies can be for students in need within their buildings, or for items a teacher may need for his/her classroom. Our goal is to ensure that teachers are not spending money out of their own pockets for school supplies. The items are then delivered once a week. In addition, AEF offers a back to school supply drive called Supply It Forward on the Saturday before school starts each year. This supply drive allows students to come shop for the supplies they need. AEF helps approximately 1,200 students with financial need each school year.
Additional areas of support include Achieve 3000, an online reading software that helps raise the readers that are below grade level a higher reading level. AEF also helps fund freshman orientation, whereby guest speaker, Keith Hawkins, welcomes freshman to the high school. Students get a chance to see the school before the first day and are paired with mentors from the junior and senior class. Finally, AEF is the sole benefactor for Evening of Excellence, a beautiful evening celebrating the Top 25 graduating seniors. Students receive a commemorative plate and invite their parents and two teachers that have made the greatest impact in the educational journey.
AEF relies on the generosity of our sponsors, individual donors, and community partners to continue our good work. Since its inception, AEF has provided more than $900,000 in programmatic support that would not have been possible through public funding.
