March 2012 Meeting

Tonight we held a much needed meeting for the Odebolt Arthur Education Foundation. We met in the Conference room at the OA School with Pam Hansen, Kristy Dewey, Bob Auen, and myself in attendence. Our first order of business was to approve me as president to be on the signature card at United Bank of Iowa so that both Pam and I can take care of business as needed. Much discussion was held in regards to the confusion of many community members as to what our education foundation is as opposed to the OABCIG Scholarship Foundation. The difference of the two is that the OABCIG is strictly for scholarships given out to the graduating seniors. The OA Education Foundation is for materials, equipment, projects, etc. to enhance the learning opportunities for ALL students helping out the district beyond what the school district operates on using their general funds. Therefore, we are helping all students while they are in school as opposed to scholarships to help pay for college for the kids graduating. We are very definately very separate entities, and both very worthy causes.

We have built up our Endowment Fund to a little over $10,000 so we are now able to draw out 5% each year. Therefore, we agreed that we should go ahead and offer a mini-grant for up to $500 for the K - 8 programs here at OA. Applications from staff will be accepted up through April 30th of this year, and the award given out by the end of the school year.

It was agreed that we need to get information out again about GoodSearch and GoodShop as it is absolutely FREE money back to the school district just for using this service. There is NO cost to anyone. I will be checking with the school to see if this toolbar can be set up on all the school's computers.

My plans are to visit with the school board as well to see if we can get a little support from our board and the administration.....as I'm not sure that some of the newer members are even aware of the fact that we are working with them to help provide for our students. Enough said. More later.... Carol Auen

Reorganizational Meeting

Tonight we met in the Conference Room at the school so that this group could get reorganized to carry on our mission to financially support educational opportunities for our students. Those present were: Pam Hansen, Bob Auen and Carol Auen. Resignations were acknowledged from Jason Wulf, Beth Wulf, Carolyn Hoelscher, and Vicki Beckman. Curt Wareham also resigned as president. Bob Auen agreed to fill one of the vacancies. After checking the by-laws, a minimum of 5 persons are needed to serve as directors. Therefore, at this time, the directors are Pam Hansen, Bob Auen, Carol Auen, Kristie Dewey, Kevin Carstensen, Roger Buehler, and Curt Wareham.
Officers were elected as follows: President, Carol Auen; Vice President, Bob Auen, and Secretary/Treasurer, Pam Hansen.
We reviewed the Endow Iowa Fund having a current balance of $3,310.18. It was agreed upon to send $6,580.05 from our local account to our Endow Iowa Fund. The $125 that was received previously as donations for the fine arts departments, will be given to the High School Music Department.
It was also decided to offer the funds raised from GoodSearch and GoodShop annually to a different department/classroom/school group, etc. Requests can be made prior to the beginning of each year. The OABCIG High School Music Department will be the recipients for 2011.
Pam Hansen reported information for a possible fundraiser. She will gather some more information and we will meet again as we all agreed that some sort of event is needed to increase awareness of the foundation as well as raising funds for our cause. We also discussed presenting information at the all-school banquet that will be held in June. Volunteers are needed to serve on committees to help promote the foundation and to help with any events that may take place.
Carol asked about the possibility of the Education Foundation being the sponsors of the All-School reunions since we are directly related to the alumni/education. Pam will inquire at the next meeting of those working with the reunion for this year. The next meeting will be held soon so that we can decide on our next fundraising event and get a date set.

OAEF Reorganizing

The OA Education Foundation is in the process of reorganinzing. Anyone interested in becoming a member to help spread the word about the foundation and raising funds for the school and the local children, please contact Carol Auen or Pam Hansen. We need individuals who believe in providing and continuing excellent educational opportunities locally. Please pass the word....

Funds Received from GoodSearch

Thanks to all our supporters using the GoodSearch search engine, the foundation has received the 3rd annual donation from GoodSearch. There is absolutely NO cost to our supporters and GoodSearch will donate a penney for each time someone uses their search engine! It really does count up. This year we earned almost $130. Next year we are aiming for $500.....so anyone reading this, please pass the word to all family, friends, and OA alumni as well. Contact me, Carol Auen, if you have questions or if I can help set up the toolbar for anyone. Go to www.GoodSearch.com. There are also daily/weekly special deals for shopping online and the foundation will earn a percentage of the purchase. This is really awesome!

Alumni Updates

Please consider sharing your updated contact information with us. Next year will be the All School Reunion and mailings will go out to all. If you could send to us your current address and e-mail addresses you will be assured of receiving the info when it comes out. If you have brothers, sisters, friends, or other relation that you know are not receiving the invitations, please direct them to this site to share their info or have them contact Carol at bauen@netins.net. Eventually we will use this site to post alumni info when we get more traffic following our news! Help get the word out!!!!!

May 2010 Meeting

The OA Ed Foundation board met last evening, May 12th. Members present were Carolyn Hoelscher, Pam Hansen, Jason Wulf, Carol Auen, Kevin Carstensen; and Sup't. Dani Trimble and Bob Auen. Discussion was held on raising funds for the district to purchase active boards for the classrooms. Carol and Carolyn viewed active boards in use at the BC-IG elementary and were very impressed at the interaction it provided for the students with their lessons. Sup't. Trimble reported that each unit would cost approx. $3,800. The members approved launching a campaign to raise $40,000 to purchase 10 active board units. Funds will be raised and hopefully have some in place by the start of the next school year.

Applications were reviewed for the two scholarships of $250 each. They will be presented their checks at the awards night next Wednesday night. Carol has agreed to represent the foundation to make these presentations.


One application was received for the mini-grants that we offered that were due on May 1st. Kara Neville submitted an application for books for an elementary leveled book library. It will benefit all the students and all teachers will have access to the books. She asked for a minimum of $100 up to $5,000; as they could use anything we could help them with. Mrs. Trimble informed us that there were no funds available through the district to help with this project, and that it would be a very valuable assest for the district. The members voted to grant Kara $2,500 at this time to begin the project.

Vicki is working on a brochure for the foundation showcasing the previous projects that we have funded since we organized. Kevin will check with her to see how that is coming. Mrs. Trimble will help with the information on the active boards that we would like to include.

Fundraising activities were also discussed; the members felt that we should try to promote donations on a larger scale, including the endowment options at this time. Since it is such a busy time of the year, there will be no meeting in June, but that we would stay in touch through email till the brochures are ready.

Directors Seek Info for Project at OA

OAEF Directors Carolyn Hoelscher and Carol Auen, along with Superinterndent Dani Trimble, traveled to the BCIG elementary to view Active Boards being used in the elementary classrooms. The OA Education Foundation is considering raising funds for the OA district to install these active boards in the classrooms. A cost proposal will be available at the next foundation meeting to be held on Wednesday, May 12th. Both directors were very impressed and excited for the possibilities these would create for the students and teachers. Information will be shared with other board members as well as awarding this spring's mini-grants at the next meeting. Anyone who would like to get involved with the foundation is welcome to attend.