President’s Letter
January 21, 2025 2025-04-14 18:36President’s Letter
President's Letter
Greetings friends,
Welcome to the Rocky River Education Foundation’s (RREF) newsletter. For those unfamiliar with the RREF and our mission, we are the longest running and most effective education foundation in the greater Cleveland area. The RREF is a non-profit board of 29 volunteers who are residents, business leaders, and parents of children in our community. Our purpose is to enrich and provide added quality to the educational experience of all students attending Rocky River City Schools (RRCS).Â
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Since our inception, the RREF has served as a grant underwriter from the community to help support the district. Through donations from corporations and individuals within the community, the RREF funds many grant requests from Rocky River teachers and staff. The approved grants are used to fuel innovation and creativity in our classrooms and beyond. In 2023-2024, the RREF funded $95,000 in grants to support our district’s teachers and students. Additionally, the RREF supplies $10,000 annually in seed funding to the schools to cover educational enhancing projects that occur throughout the year.Â
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Examples of the grants that we funded in 2023-2024:
- Making RRCS Globally Competitive in Mathematics – Andy Shue, RRHS
- Graphing the Way to Higher Understanding – Kristen McDougal, RRHS
- KIS Right to Read Week Author Visit (Terri Libenson) – Beth Paul, Kensington
- Lovevery Toy Collection – Daniea Beard, Beach
- Supporting Sensory and Social Needs in the Classroom – Danielle Stuhr, Goldwood
The RREF also administers scholarships awarded to our high school seniors. This year, thanks to our many donors’ scholarship funds, the RREF administered over $133,000 in scholarships to more than 70 graduating seniors. It is through these donations from our community that we can help send so many of our students off to schools across the country to pursue their interests and follow their dreams.
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Our oldest and largest source of fundraising is accomplished through our annual gala. Last year, we raised $102,000 in net proceeds to help fund future grant and project requests. At the gala, the RREF has helped raise funds for district projects, including $28,500 for the RRHS Kitchen in 2023 and $12,300 for the Kensington Makerspace refresh in 2024. An annual car raffle (this year, a Chevy Malibu, which was generously donated to RRCS by Serpentini Chevrolet of Westlake), is our other primary fundraiser, which generated more than $11,000 in sales last year.Â
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Looking for ways to get involved and support the RREF? Please consider:
- Buying tickets for the car raffle, drawing to be held in March 2025.
- Attending our annual gala on Saturday, March 22, 2025 (new venue and format!)
- Donating to the RREF through our website.
- Creating a scholarship.
- Giving via estate planning.
- Joining our board.
See you around town!
Joe Calabrese
RREF President
