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NEF's New Team For 2008-2009
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This month, we welcomed 10 new board members and a new
leadership team for the 2008-2009 year.
Carolyn Perelmuter, co-president for the past year,
will be joined as co-president next year by Frank Fortin. Frank has
served on the NEF board since 2003, and has lived in Needham for the last nine
years. He and wife Lois Ritarossi have two daughters at Pollard Middle School, and he
comes from a family of teachers. He succeeds Carla Small, who is
completing an amazing two years as co-president.
Joining the board next year as new members are: Lisa
Alpert, Alison Atallah, Brooke Baker, Bernice Behar, Lori Friedman, Kate
Maguire, Steve Mock, Judy Shapiro, Stephanie Wallace, and Dan Warren.
It's an exciting group who will bring their talents and perspective to NEF.
Welcome to all! And we extend a warm thank you to the
dedicated board members who are completing their term this month. |
Honor That Special Teacher: Deadline Extended
for Teacher Recognition Cards
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The deadline for
submitting requests for NEF Teacher Recognition Cards has been extended to
Monday, June 16.
You can use Teacher
Recognition Cards to honor the teachers in your children's lives at year's end
by making a donation in their name to the NEF. Teachers will receive a special card
honoring them and acknowledging your donation. We do all the deliveries - all
you have to do place the order.
Click here for more
information about Teacher Recognition Cards.
And if you'd like to
make a general donation to NEF, we accept secure online donations year-round on our website, via PayPal. |
A Record Year for the NEF: Thank You!
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We are completing an incredible year.
This spring, we awarded 14 more grants to teachers, administrators and parents. This year we were able to award 43 grants totaling $177,832. It's a 55% increase over last year, and our biggest year ever by a huge margin.
But the NEF is not really about numbers. What do we mean?
This past week, we attended one of the sixth grade chorus concerts at Pollard. For two of the songs, a small group of students accompanied the young singers with a beautiful suite of African drum rhythms.
Music teacher Mark Smith then generously acknowledged the NEF grant that paid for the drums (unprompted and unscripted, we promise!), which received a warm round of applause. We were reminded again that when you donate to the NEF, you are allowing us to invest your hard-earned contributions in the every day lives of our children. This realization is both inspiring, and humbling.
We also thought back to the launch of our first Collaborative Initiative last fall. This is a grant program that we co-designed with leadership of the Needham Public Schools. The first initiative was the "Global Competence Program," which certifies that high school students are competent in the skills to thrive in a global society. Nineteen students have been certified this year, and at least 30 more are in the process of fulfilling its requirements. We're already discussing ideas for the next Collaborative Initiative.
And we thought of OrigiNation, the African dance program that we co-funded last winter, or the new project to teach embryology to first graders at Mitchell, or the - well, you get the point. We could go on forever, especially after this past year. Learning really does "come alive" for our children.
These programs can only happen because of your generosity, every year. "Thank you" seems inadequate to say what we feel. The best way we can honor your support is to keep improving. We're already thinking ahead to next year.
If you're thinking about applying for a grant next fall, the applications for our Autumn Grants (up to $5,000) and Large Grants programs (up to $15,000) will be available on our website by next week. The Autumn Grant application deadline is Oct. 10, 2008. The deadline for Large Grant concept papers is Sept. 25, 2008.
As always, we are available to answer your questions and hear your suggestions.
So have a great summer, and see you next fall!
Sincerely,
The NEF Board of Directors |
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