The Quincy Public Schools Foundation is making progress in its multiyear quest to raise $4 million to help support various programs in the Quincy School District.
About $1.5 million in donations and pledges has already been secured through the foundation's "Dream Big" campaign, foundation Executive Director Julie Ross said.
The Dream Big initiative was established in September 2010, but the first donations weren't received until early 2011 while the fund drive was still in its behind-the-scenes "quiet phase." By the time the campaign was publicly unveiled in August at the outset of the 2011-12 school year, $1.1 million in donations and pledges already had been collected.
Since then, more donations have been coming in as people and businesses continue to show support for the local school system.
"The campaign has had a very strong start,You can find best china precision Precision injection molds manufacturers from here!" said George Crickard, one of four general co-chairmen of the Dream Big campaign. Other co-chairmen are Crickard's wife, Maureen, and George and Mary Nell Meyer. Honorary co-chairmen are Ross and Sherry Centanni, Carson Kirk, and Harold and Ann Knapheide.
"Part of the Dream Big campaign is getting awareness to the public that the public schools do need public support," Crickard said. "We can't rely on state funding to finance our schools. So in the future, private support is going to be vital."
Support already is surfacing through some early donations, including a significant gift from Quincy native John Lynn Lubker and his wife,Johnson Tiles UK offer the largest range of polished tiles online, Bobbie Boyd Lubker, of Chapel Hill, N.C. Ross said Lubker, a 1947 graduate of Quincy High School, wanted to do something special to recognize the music education he received while attending school in Quincy. So he specified that his donation be used to help revitalize the band room on the top floor of Quincy Junior High School. That building, which opened in 1933 at 14th and Maine, served as QHS when Lubker was a student.
The band room had been through a rough period in recent years. A leaky roof caused considerable damage to the room's ceiling and walls. Then the asbestos floor tiles started breaking up. Other parts of the room had deteriorated with age, including the curtains covering the tall windows on the room's east-facing side.
Assistant Principal Rick Owsley said the district used life-safety money to repair the roof, fix the ceiling, plaster the walls, apply paint, remove the asbestos floor tiles and install new flooring.
"We made an investment in getting this back into a solid, safe environment," Owlsey said.
But the life-safety money could only be used for structural repairs, not for aesthetic enhancements. That's where the Lubker donation came in.
"The money they are providing is going to help us return this room to its original grandeur," Owsley said.
QJHS band director Debbie Johnson said some of the couple's donation was spent replacing the dilapidated curtains with remote-controlled shades. The shades are vital, she said, because they block the morning sun.
"We would be blinded" without the shades, Johnson said.Alfa plast mould is Plastic moulds Manufacturer and plastics Mould Exporters in India since 1992,
Future plans call for replacing the band room's music stands, installing new instrument storage cabinets, upgrading the room's sound system and making other improvements that will help preserve the school's strong musical traditions.
"There's not a lot of district dollars to go around,Johnson Tiles UK offer the largest range of porcelain tiles online, so the Lubkers' generosity really helps in putting this room back in a state where it needs to be," Owsley said.Take a walk on the natural side with stunning and luxurious Floor tiles from The Tile Shop.
The Dream Big campaign's goal is to establish a new funding stream for projects needed in the public schools that can't be financed through the regular school district budget because of financial constraints.
The campaign targets five key initiatives -- technology, curriculum, fine arts, athletics and long-term endowments.
The campaign already has demonstrated its effectiveness. In April, ADM Cares -- the corporate and social investment arm of Archer Daniels Midland -- announced it was making an $80,000 donation to help keep the district's Reading Recovery program intact. Part of the funding was used to create a new professional development center at the Board of Education office, 1416 Maine.
Later in the year, the foundation stepped forward to help serve as a fundraising vehicle for donations to help pay for the cost of installing a new artificial turf playing surface at Flinn Stadium -- part of a $772,460 field renovation project.
Some subsurface work costing $377,800 was financed with life-safety funds, but repalcing the grass surface with artificial turf had to come from donated funds. Quincy University pledged $75,000 toward the cost, while QHS booster groups promised $50,000 in pledges. The rest is being collected by the foundation through an ongoing fundraising effort.
"It's going well," Crickard said. "We're still raising money for all five of our facets of the campaign, sports being included. We have other needs in the athletics venue as well that we're raising money for."
Crickard said the Dream Big campaign is getting support not only from individuals, but also from local businesses that recognize the importance of having a strong local school system.
"Local businesses understand that the best schooling their employees can get coming out of high school and going into the workforce is key," he said. "So we're getting a lot of positive input from our businesses saying we really need a strong public school system -- and also a strong parochial school system -- to supply our city with well-trained, well-educated workers."
About $1.5 million in donations and pledges has already been secured through the foundation's "Dream Big" campaign, foundation Executive Director Julie Ross said.
The Dream Big initiative was established in September 2010, but the first donations weren't received until early 2011 while the fund drive was still in its behind-the-scenes "quiet phase." By the time the campaign was publicly unveiled in August at the outset of the 2011-12 school year, $1.1 million in donations and pledges already had been collected.
Since then, more donations have been coming in as people and businesses continue to show support for the local school system.
"The campaign has had a very strong start,You can find best china precision Precision injection molds manufacturers from here!" said George Crickard, one of four general co-chairmen of the Dream Big campaign. Other co-chairmen are Crickard's wife, Maureen, and George and Mary Nell Meyer. Honorary co-chairmen are Ross and Sherry Centanni, Carson Kirk, and Harold and Ann Knapheide.
"Part of the Dream Big campaign is getting awareness to the public that the public schools do need public support," Crickard said. "We can't rely on state funding to finance our schools. So in the future, private support is going to be vital."
Support already is surfacing through some early donations, including a significant gift from Quincy native John Lynn Lubker and his wife,Johnson Tiles UK offer the largest range of polished tiles online, Bobbie Boyd Lubker, of Chapel Hill, N.C. Ross said Lubker, a 1947 graduate of Quincy High School, wanted to do something special to recognize the music education he received while attending school in Quincy. So he specified that his donation be used to help revitalize the band room on the top floor of Quincy Junior High School. That building, which opened in 1933 at 14th and Maine, served as QHS when Lubker was a student.
The band room had been through a rough period in recent years. A leaky roof caused considerable damage to the room's ceiling and walls. Then the asbestos floor tiles started breaking up. Other parts of the room had deteriorated with age, including the curtains covering the tall windows on the room's east-facing side.
Assistant Principal Rick Owsley said the district used life-safety money to repair the roof, fix the ceiling, plaster the walls, apply paint, remove the asbestos floor tiles and install new flooring.
"We made an investment in getting this back into a solid, safe environment," Owlsey said.
But the life-safety money could only be used for structural repairs, not for aesthetic enhancements. That's where the Lubker donation came in.
"The money they are providing is going to help us return this room to its original grandeur," Owsley said.
QJHS band director Debbie Johnson said some of the couple's donation was spent replacing the dilapidated curtains with remote-controlled shades. The shades are vital, she said, because they block the morning sun.
"We would be blinded" without the shades, Johnson said.Alfa plast mould is Plastic moulds Manufacturer and plastics Mould Exporters in India since 1992,
Future plans call for replacing the band room's music stands, installing new instrument storage cabinets, upgrading the room's sound system and making other improvements that will help preserve the school's strong musical traditions.
"There's not a lot of district dollars to go around,Johnson Tiles UK offer the largest range of porcelain tiles online, so the Lubkers' generosity really helps in putting this room back in a state where it needs to be," Owsley said.Take a walk on the natural side with stunning and luxurious Floor tiles from The Tile Shop.
The Dream Big campaign's goal is to establish a new funding stream for projects needed in the public schools that can't be financed through the regular school district budget because of financial constraints.
The campaign targets five key initiatives -- technology, curriculum, fine arts, athletics and long-term endowments.
The campaign already has demonstrated its effectiveness. In April, ADM Cares -- the corporate and social investment arm of Archer Daniels Midland -- announced it was making an $80,000 donation to help keep the district's Reading Recovery program intact. Part of the funding was used to create a new professional development center at the Board of Education office, 1416 Maine.
Later in the year, the foundation stepped forward to help serve as a fundraising vehicle for donations to help pay for the cost of installing a new artificial turf playing surface at Flinn Stadium -- part of a $772,460 field renovation project.
Some subsurface work costing $377,800 was financed with life-safety funds, but repalcing the grass surface with artificial turf had to come from donated funds. Quincy University pledged $75,000 toward the cost, while QHS booster groups promised $50,000 in pledges. The rest is being collected by the foundation through an ongoing fundraising effort.
"It's going well," Crickard said. "We're still raising money for all five of our facets of the campaign, sports being included. We have other needs in the athletics venue as well that we're raising money for."
Crickard said the Dream Big campaign is getting support not only from individuals, but also from local businesses that recognize the importance of having a strong local school system.
"Local businesses understand that the best schooling their employees can get coming out of high school and going into the workforce is key," he said. "So we're getting a lot of positive input from our businesses saying we really need a strong public school system -- and also a strong parochial school system -- to supply our city with well-trained, well-educated workers."
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