January 19, 2015 at 1:29 p.m.
Green Tie Gala helps HSF support area teachers
Green Tie Gala helps HSF support area teachers
The Green Tie version of the gala started about two years ago, though a gala supporting education has been a mainstay in Rhinelander for almost a decade.
"Two years ago, the Rhinelander Schools Education Foundation and the Hodag Facilities Foundation combined to become the Hodag Schools Foundation, and that's when we changed our annual fundraiser gala to the Green Tie Gala," said Sue Makris, event organizer and HSF vice president.
"Although we've been doing this for about nine years, we've had two Green Tie Galas, and apparently that struck a chord with people because we've exploded since then."
Attendance at the gala has grown each year, with more and more supporters coming out of the woodwork to don a green tie and support Hodag schools - both public and private. This year's event attracted over 200 people, HSF officials said.
Makris said she believes the increase in participation can be attributed to the fact that more people are realizing just how important education is - and how important it is to support area educators.
"It's fantastic. We know that having excellent public schools is essential to a vital community, and I think when you look around and see the number of people here, the diversity in age of people here, the support for education is amazing," she said.
"And it's education as a whole, not just public. We've done a lot over the last year, and that included sending 800 students to see the children's concert. Those were public and parochial students. Even though our mission is for the public schools and the School District of Rhinelander, we do expand beyond that, because all of our students are important."
Special speaker Brian Wendt, a 1989 Rhinelander High School grad, echoed that message, noting there's nothing more important that ensuring all area students have the tools they need to succeed.
"If you really think about what the Hodag Schools Foundation is about, it's really leaving an impact on the next generation of our students and kids," he said.
"Hopefully, they'll see the value of their education and growing up here and continue that support."
Aside from an array of special projects, one of HSF's main goals is to be able to provide grants to area teachers. The majority of the proceeds from the gala are used to fund those grants.
"The gala is for the benefit of the foundation as a whole, but specifically, much of this money goes to teacher grants in the School District of Rhinelander," Makris said.
"As budget cuts became reality - whether you're going to point to the funding formula or whatever - budget cuts are a reality and with that has gone a lot of funding for innovation, and that's what has caused a lot of the excellence in the School District of Rhinelander. We don't want to lose that."
"We've got alumni all over the world, all over the country, who are doing amazing things in their lives because they received a quality education here in Rhinelander," she added.
"We don't want the children coming up to lose out on that."
Superintendent Kelli Jacobi said the grants are a great thing for her teachers.
"HSF has done some fabulous things for our school district as a whole," she said. "We have a lot of teachers that write grants and have received them for everything from iPads in the classroom to help with our 'Beauty and the Beast' theatrical performance. That they're there to support our teachers who are really working hard to do great things with and for our kids, is a wonderful thing."
Marcus Nesemann may be reached at [email protected].
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