Davis Schools Foundation
DSF receives $10,000 match offer
Enterprise staff | | April 13, 2010 09:35
At the Hanlees Nissan indoor showroom in Davis, students from various Davis public schools gather Monday to decorate the Nissan Cube and Toyota Prius that Hanlees will offer up as raffle prizes to donors to the Davis Schools Foundation. The prize covers the first-year lease and maintenance. Fred Gladdis/Enterprise photo
Hanlees Auto Group has issued a challenge to the community: Donate $10,000 to the Davis Schools Foundation by April 24 and Hanlees will match the contributions. In addition, Hanlees is donating one-year leases on two 2010 cars as prizes in fundraising raffles. One drawing will be open only to employees of the Davis Joint Unified School District; the other will be open to the general public. 'We're thrilled that Hanlees is encouraging those donations and helping propel our fund drive even further on behalf of the 8,500 children in our schools,' said Maria Ungermann, foundation vice president. 'This is a great way to go into the final few weeks of the campaign.' As of Friday, the nonprofit foundation had received $788,736 in donations. The foundation will soon release a new 'fundraising thermometer' graphic that also will show an additional $1.2 million representing the cost savings resulting from employee groups' tentative agreements to take five furlough days in the next school year. The foundation has a goal of closing the district's $5.6 million budget gap by May 1. The foundation's priorities, which are aligned with the school district's priorities, are to fund four categories of educational programs and services: * Retaining lower class sizes; * Restoring core-subject programming; * Saving counseling jobs; and * Saving positions that support school safety. These four goals can be achieved if the community's donations, combined with the employee group agreements of $1.2 million, reach $4.4 million, according to Ungermann. Any additional donations would go toward funding items in the final $1.165 million of cutbacks proposed by Superintendent James Hammond. His full proposal to close the budget gap is available at http://www.districtdollars.org. For people who held off giving until DSF had a challenge grant to 'double' their donation, Hanlees' offer provides the trigger. 'We're pleased to again support the Davis Schools Foundation in its very worthy goals,' said Pam Sandoval, controller of Hanlees, which operates the Toyota, Chevrolet, Scion and Nissan dealerships in South Davis. 'Our hope is that our contributions add excitement and momentum to the campaign and help preserve excellence in Davis schools.' Sandoval said that once they came up with the idea of donating cars for raffles, they immediately knew they wanted to offer one solely for school district employees. 'They do a great job for our kids all year long,' she said. 'We appreciate all that they do for us, so we really wanted to do something to thank them and honor them.' Raffle winners will have the choice of a Toyota Prius or a Nissan Cube, and servicing for the year will be free as well. One raffle ticket will be given for every $25 donated to the campaign, or five tickets for a donation of $100, up to a maximum of five tickets per individual, Ungermann said. Those who donate $365 or more will receive 10 tickets as a thank-you gift. People who have already donated to this year's Dollar-a-Day Campaign at the $365 level or above are eligible for 10 free tickets as well. They may pick up tickets and drop them in the drawing on April 24 at Schoolapalooza, DSF's annual shopping day and family festival in downtown Davis. The drawings for the two cars will take place at 3:45 p.m. that afternoon at the E Street Plaza. Tickets are being printed now. They'll soon go on sale at the Hanlees dealership, 5009 Chiles Road, and at the DSF table at the Davis Farmers' Market. They also will be sold until 3:30 p.m. at Schoolapalooza. Ticket-holders don't need to be present at the drawing to win. Hanlees' support of the campaign echoes its role in DSF's 2008 Dollar-a-Day Campaign. That year, it also issued a challenge grant that helped galvanize the community and led to a fundraising total of $1.7 million. This year, the campaign ends May 1 in keeping with the school district's budget timeline. Funds will be transferred to the district to rescind some of the 149 layoff notices that have been issued. Donations may be made online at http://www.davisschoolsfoundation.org or may be dropped off at any Davis public school. Also, people can donate at the checkstand as they buy groceries this month at the Davis Food Co-op, both Nugget Markets, both Safeway locations and Westlake IGA.
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