Donors Making a Difference

Helping Schools in Time of Need

By: Andrea E. Garcia

Cathy Dacanay recognizes the value of having her fifth grade students learn history with some outside help.

For two years, the Vacaville resident and teacher at Jean Callison Elementary School has recruited a guest presenter for her class to discuss various time periods in history. He provides artifacts, stories, and humor -ingredients that Dacanay believes will help students vividly remember the lesson taught. And she’s right.

It’s a warm Thursday morning, shortly before a school assembly, when more than 25 fifth-grade students sit quietly at their desks, engrossed in a science project of soap and pepper. Well, quiet until a conversation of the American Revolution surfaces.

“He was wearing a tan shirt and brown pants, carrying a big jacket and treasure trunk,” the students recalled of the visit by the guest speaker with great detail. “He showed us gun powder, a gun, and grape shots used in the real battlefield!”

The presenter, Ken Hawks of Ancient Artifacts, visited Dacanay’s class earlier this year with an array of ancient colonial artifacts; a musket ball, a 1774 Spanish coin, and a bayonet, which students say was thrown underneath a wagon wheel during the Battle of Bunker Hill. For the students, it was a journey into a time period they can only imagine.

“Mr. Hawks put us in the mindset of what it’s like to be an American soldier,” added classmate Josh Gooding. “It made us feel like a part of it all; it was very informative.”

For Neil Wilson, Gooding’s classmate, the artifacts were more than just visuals.

“He passed out these little solid bullets called grape shots for us to see but it was something we got to touch, something we don’t usually do,” he said.

Dacanay, who’s been teaching in Vacaville for 11 years and in Solano County for 30, has taken steps to think beyond the classroom curriculum, something teachers are finding necessary as educational budget cuts continue to slash essential school programs. 

She applied for an Education Plus! Mini-Grant at Solano Community Foundation for the 2008-2009 school year and was garnered the requested funds to cover the cost of a guest speaker from Ancient Artifacts.

“The idea of bringing something to the kids, for the kids, all because of community support, makes a difference in the world,” she said.  “It’s great for the kids; they are enthusiastic and so jazzed about the speaker.”

The mini-grant program has been in existence since 2000, allocating grants of up to $500 to Solano County teachers for an array of projects. To date, the Foundation has made 499 grants, totaling $218,118.

As current and newly proposed education cuts continue to unravel, mini-grants offered by the Foundation provides Solano County public school teachers with an opportunity for assistance during dire times.

In May, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed to add an additional $680 million in cuts to public education for the 2009-2010 budget year and asked schools to make more than $1.4 billion in cuts during the last few weeks of the current school year.

Locally, the squeeze has already been felt by the Fairfield Suisun Unified School District, where four schools – Dover Middle School, Amy Blanc, H. Glen Richardson and Bransford Elementary Schools – were voted to close down as of the 2009-2010 school year.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell, outraged with the proposed cuts, is concerned with the potential impact.

“I recognize that California’s budget shortfall continues to grow deeper. However, it is critical that we focus on ways to protect and preserve California’s top priority – public education,” he said in a press release. “Failing to do so is not worthy of our great state.”

SCF wants to help preserve public education as it is an integral part of the community now and for the future. Beginning August, teachers will be able to apply online for the Education Plus! Mini-Grants at www.solanocf.org for grants to be allocated in November 2009.

Projects for students include academically-enriching programs structured to enhance a student’s learning experience at school, such as projects in the arts, sciences, and real life application of knowledge.

“The kids learned a lot that day about the Revolution,” Dacanay said. “Our time is so short to teach. These speakers have expertise from the past, and they really teach our kids and get them so excited. Students really do retain the information.”

Funding for Ed Plus! is provided by generous donations from community members, including the Frank H. and Eva B. Buck Foundation in Vacaville. If you would like to make a difference in a student’s life by donating to this fund, please contact Solano Community Foundation at 707-399-3846.

Read about donors who make a difference:

Dentist, Former Dixon Mayor, Picks Philanthropy as Retirement Project

For 72-year-old Don Erickson, a Dixon resident of 45 years, the idea of having a story written about his life causes him to chuckle. 
Read about Don Erickson and his role of philanthropy in the community.

Searching for Grants

Not too long ago, Betty Knoll and a few members from St. Mark's Lutheran Church recognized the need to develop an afterschool reading program for young children in the Fairfield Community. To make this program flourish and become a reality in the community, Knoll and her friend attedned one of Solano Community Foundation's free workshops.
Read how Betty Knoll searched for grants through the Foundation Directory Online

Winds of Change

In the early morning of February 15, Bill Doherty, an affable man who recently inherited the title of Solano Winds Community Concert Band director, arrived at the back doors of the Fairfield Center for Creative Arts with his family and band members to unload equipment for the evening's concert.
Read more about the  Robert O. Briggs Scholarship Endowment Fund

Helping Nonprofits

There’s a plot at Rockville Cemetery, where four large slabs of smooth concrete lie peacefully near the paved road, and where the story of Leslie Anderson, whose name is on one of the slabs, remains alive.
Read about the Anderson & Associates CPA Endowment Fund

a chair for Meecha

Early one September morning, on the driving range of Green Tree Golf Club, 62-year-old Tony Love stood alone and practiced his long-range shots.
Read about Tony Love and his philanthropy

In memory of . . .

When Annette and I were inseparable pals in high school and college, we found it uproariously funny to imagine ourselves as two little old ladies, reminiscing about when we were young.

Read about the Community Memorial Fund

The silent helper

Before the dust settles on the Amtrak platform, when the 5 a.m. train rolls into the Sacramento station, you'’ll sometimes see 85-year-old Mortimer Schwartz in a blue vest directing traffic and answering questions from the traveling public.

Read about the Beacon Fund

senior's endowment benefit inspiring musicians . . . what's your passion?

Robert Briggs spent most of his 80 years breathing life into instruments. For decades, Briggs took his passion for music into the hearts of his students at Armijo High School and those at the University of Berkeley, California. 

Read about the Robert O. Briggs Scholarship Endowment Fund

a legacy of memories

For 78-year-old Nancy Rossi, sitting in her large entertainment room with bursts of sunlight peeking through the plush curtains, talk of her husband brings a glow to her face.

Read about the Max Rossi Memorial Endowment Fund

Giving to Students

They say a teacher can help build a student’s self-esteem, and it’s true. Anyone who has seen a foreign child learn a second language, carrying the burden of translating for the family, knows the difference a teacher can make in their life. 

Read about the Fairfield High School Staff Scholarship Fund