WEF President Erick Carter thanked attendees for their support.
More than 250 guests gathered at the Lakes Golf and Country Club on Saturday evening, May 5, for An Artful Affair, presented by Education First Credit Union and Mount Carmel St. Ann’s. The event, which featured artwork from local professional and student artists, as well as live music from local jazz musicians, raised more than $70,000 through sponsorships, ticket sales and Westerville’s largest art auction.
In addition to celebrating the Westerville Education Foundation’s (WEF) 25th anniversary, the event recognized WEF grant recipients, teachers of the month, and early board members Kathy Cocuzzi, Jeff Copeland, Frank Kersanty and Dave Kotary, all of whom were in attendance.
“It was an amazing evening focused on enhancing education in our schools,” said Westerville City School District (WCSD) Superintendent Dr. John Kellogg. “The response to this event shows how much the Westerville area community cares about our students and our staff.”
Placing a focus to the bright future of the Foundation, presenting sponsors Education First Credit Union and Mount Carmel St. Ann’s, each contributing $10,000 to the WEF, announced exciting programs for the upcoming school year.
Mike Wettrich, President and CEO of Education First, announced that his company is committing $1,500 to help brand new teachers in the WCSD set up their very first classroom. Citing that teachers, on average, spend $500 to $1,000 out of their own pockets annually for classroom supplies, Wettrich explained that the $1,500 will be divided evenly and made available to WCSD teachers new to the profession through the WEF’s Adopt-a-Classroom program.
Unhee Kim, President of Mount Carmel St. Ann’s, announced their Project HEALTH grant that will be available to WCSD staff in the 2018-2019 school year through the WEF’s grant process. Kim said the grant will fund programs that connect students with various aspects of health, including healthcare, education, active lifestyle, leadership, technology, home and food.
“We have a wonderfully unique district with amazing employees,” said WEF Executive Director Colleen Moidu. “The WEF allows our creative and motivated district staff to pursue innovative programming for students. Thanks to the community’s support for this event, we will be able to fund even more of these great programs in the future. ”
An Artful Affair garnered support from more than 50 sponsors, including: Education First Credit Union; Mount Carmel St. Ann’s; Alliance Data; DCTS - Dayton Cincinnati Technology Solutions; TRIAD Architects/ TRIAD Facility Solutions; Henry Painting; Robert E. Woodruff; the Garland Company; the UPS Stores of Westerville; WASA - Westerville Amateur Soccer Association; Elford, Inc.; GCI - Geotechnical Consultants, Inc.; Ketchum and Walton Company; Maggie Neely, Area VP Gallagher Benefits; Mill Tech, LLC, Rich & Gillis Law Group; Staples Advantage; and Thoughtexchange; Andrew Insurance Associates; BDO; Cardinal Bus Sales & Service; Hutta & Hutta Orthodontics; Jericho Financial; Midwest Sports Professional Photographic Lab; Northstar Family Dental; RSFi Office Furniture, Shirk & O’Donovan Consulting Engineers; the Carter Family; the Collins Family; the Motz Group; the Revolution Group and Todd and Nancy McFarland.
Proceeds from this event support the WEF in its mission to fund innovative educational programming in Westerville City Schools. For more information about the WEF, please visit:
www.westervilleeducationfoundation.com or e-mail Colleen Moidu at ExecutiveDirector@WestervilleEducationFoundation.com.