Recap

In 2024, the FFE was able to give back over $50,000 in grants to classrooms across the district. These covered new classroom tools like decodable books, musical instruments, heart rate monitors, sensory items, and leadership programs.

The FFE also provided over $2,400 in scholarships for high school students participating in the Walled Lake School District's incredible marching bands.

This year, $2,500 was provided to the Adult Transitions Program (ATP) to support their Coffee Cart micro-business. The FFE's Special Deeds for Special Needs program initially paid for the coffee cart itself and continues to support the business by providing funds for supplies like coffee, cups, napkins, etc., to keep the business running.

The WLCSD ATP program serves special needs adults from the ages of 18-26. You can find out more about this great program here: https://www.wlcsd.org/programs/adult-transitions

Each year the FFE matches PTA funds (up to $500) to help our Title 1 elementary schools ensure that all 5th-grade students are able to attend 5th-grade camp. This is such a wonderful learning opportunity for students, not only to learn about nature but also to get a bit of independence through their overnight stay.

When school kicks off for the year, it's a great time for our retirees to get back together and catch up with old friends and colleagues. We are thrilled to host a yearly Retiree Reception, sponsored by Michelle Tomei of M3 Investments, for all our former staff.

If you haven't heard about this event and want to be added to the invitation list for the fall of 2025 event, please contact Jackie Gurwin at JackieGurwin@wlcsd.org.

On June 17th, 2024, the FFE hosted another sold-out golf scramble! This year we hosted 34 teams and 41 sponsors to help bring in over $33,000 for the Foundation.

The event included 18 holes of golf, breakfast, lunch, dinner, course contests, and raffle items. Watch for updates about this year's golf scramble here: https://www.wlcsd.org/community/foundation-for-excellence/ffe-golf-scramble

Our Tuition Expedition Raffle is a win/win! The Grand Prize winner gets 50% of the proceeds to use for scholarship funds, and the FFE receives the other 50% to put back into our mission of adding more tools and resources to classrooms across Walled Lake Schools. Historically, winners receive over $10,000 in scholarship funds!

2025 Tuition Expedition tickets are on sale now! Go to https://www.wlcsd.org/community/foundation-for-excellence/tuition-expedition to find out more.

A couple of important notes:

• The FFE will hold the funds for up to 20 years, so if your child is still in diapers, the funds will be there when they graduate high school.
• You can split the funds between students and across semesters. We just ask that it all be paid out within 4 years of the first payment.
• Checks are written directly to the college or university, which means you do not need to claim the money on your taxes.
• If you don't need scholarship funds, you can take a 40% lump sum cash payout. (Just know the IRS wants their cut so they will take about 29% of your winnings!)

This year we introduced our "Super Star Staff Awards", and we are hoping to continue to grow this program to show our staff members how much we appreciate them! For a $10 donation to the FFE, a staff member can be nominated for a Super Star Staff Award. For each nomination, the staff member gets entered into a drawing for one of two $500 prizes donated by the Walled Lake Schools Federal Credit Union. This program will kick off again in April, so keep your eye out for it!

You can find out more here: https://www.wlcsd.org/community/foundation-for-excellence/superstarstaff

We are excited to continue the sale of our Kindergarten Welcome kits and will be offering kits for our Fall 2025 Kindergarten and Junior Kindergarten students in the new year. These kits are a great way to get your students excited about joining the WLCSD community.

Kits include a "Grow With Me" T-shirt and a school-specific yard with their appropriate graduation year.

The shirts are all adult size large, which allows the students to grow into them as they get older - it's a great yearly photo opportunity!

You can find out more here: https://www.wlcsd.org/community/foundation-for-excellence/kindergarten-welcome-kits

Thank you to our Kindergarten Welcome Kit Sponsors!

Currently, over 320 staff members participate in this Buck-a-pay give-back program, where donations range from $1/paycheck to $25/paycheck. We are thrilled so many staff members see our worth and want to help us support classrooms across the district.

Every dollar raised through "Count on Me" goes straight to our grant program.

We are thrilled to have a number of other individual and businesses who give back to us each year. A huge thank you to this year's FFE supporters!

Forty Two Consulting

Hallite Seals Americas

Community Financial Credit Union

Peggy Casagrande

Bill Chatfield

Judy Evola

Barbara Garbutt
Dorothy and Gerald Gustafson

Lorie and Paul McVey

Mary Riemersma

Nancy Van Leuwen

Phyllis Wagner