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544 Foundation donations half-million dollar mark

Brian Draxton can remember when the Fergus Falls 544 Education Foundation started out. He and fellow board members had a bold vision, but little cash to back it up.

The Foundation began in 2000, eager to create an organization which could supply educators and students with opportunities and items that may not be essential to the learning experience, but would provide an advantage for students.

“We try to allow teachers to do things they would like to do but can’t because of school budgets,” Draxton said.

Now, eight years later, the Foundation has raised over half-million dollars for the district, and their balance is growing.

For the first five years, Draxton served as Board President, and has continued to serve on the board as a member until recently.

After watching the Foundation flourish to what it is now known as, Draxton is pleased to have been part of the process, but says he is ready to let others’ fresh ideas replace his own.

Highlights for Draxton came in 2007 and 2008, when the Foundation awarded a total of $80,000 to the district for the new mobile computer lab.

But it’s not just technology that the Foundation sticks to. Over the years, it has donated to everything from literacy bags to promote reading, to donations for field trips to Washington D.C.

This year, the Foundation provided a gift of $1,515 for students to attend Physics Day at Valleyfair. While there, students were able to apply their learned skills in a hands-on and exciting setting.

It is for those types of enhanced learning activities that the Foundation was created, Draxton said.

The Foundation also gives out a few scholarships, but primarily concentrates on the here and now.

“We focus our money on the programs and kids who are in our schools today,” said Draxton.

Draxton refers to other organizations, such as Dollars for Scholars, as excellent non-profits that fill those needs.

The strategy for the foundation, Draxton said, has been and always will be to make the name of the Foundation known, so when people are looking for ways to give back to the district and the community, they’ll think Foundation 544. Draxton hopes that will eventually lead to a situation where the Foundation can look to their interest earnings to help out the district.