Founder's Wall dedicated to donors

VAN BUREN — Van Buren Local Schools recently unveiled their "Founder's Wall," a collection of plaques that celebrate community members who made donations to the Van Buren Schools Education Foundation. The wall, entirely designed by students with the help of local business Rowmark, lists the names of those who donated within the first year of the foundation's creation. "It feels very good," said Maggie Wehrle, one of the five students who helped design the wall. "It took a lot of time, effort, and collaboration on everyone's part, especially with Rowmark. To see it finally come to fruition means the world knowing that we're going to have a piece in this school for years to come." Van Buren partnered with the Findlay Hancock County Community Foundation in February 2023 to establish the foundation. An education foundation collects donations and provides funds for as many categories as the school district sees fit. For example, a donation made to the fund specifically for new elementary playground equipment would go to the category created for that direct purpose. Van Buren's education foundation will be used to distribute grants to teachers and organizations within the school community. "What we're hoping for is these (grants) will come from individual classrooms, individual teachers, and it will be innovative. That's the one thing we're really looking for," said Jeff Winkle, former director of the Findlay-Hancock County Public Library and future president of the Van Buren Education Foundation board. "Something different, something innovative, something beyond what students might get from their regular classroom instruction." The foundation has raised over $80,000 since its establishment last year. "Honestly, it feels amazing knowing that we can give back to a community that helped raise us and support us through all this," said Tram Le, another student who helped design the wall. "It's just amazing to see such a small idea become such a big thing to help us out." Sixty names of community members, families and alumni are engraved on the plaques. The district is hoping to add more names in the future. "A hundred years from now is if this school's still standing — and it will be — the thousand dollars that I gave, the thousand dollars (another) person gave, will still be growing and generating funds every single year," Winkle said. "And that's pretty exciting to know."