October 2024 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

It’s been a whirlwind start to the school year and we’ve got some exciting updates to share.

As always, thank you for your continued support!

Exciting Updates from CEF

We cut a $40,000 check for work to begin on the School-Based Health Center at RFHS

From the District:

“After a series of meetings with the current leaders of MFHC, RFSD, and RFHS, we've determined that we need to embark on some pre-construction tasks this month in order for the project to stay on track for summer 2025 construction. Construction is dependent on additional grant writing, design updates, and project management. We would like to engage various professional contractors to accomplish those tasks, as we do not have those skills or capacity in-house. Funding for this project has always been planned to come from grants, not from RFSD’s general fund, so we did not include any funding in this year’s capital budget. Therefore, we are requesting the release of CEF’s grant award to cover pre-construction costs that are necessary to move the project forward.”

We’re thrilled that your generous contributions were able to fast track this important project that otherwise would have been stalled and we’ll continue to share with you progress on this project!

We have awarded our first Teach Grants

CEF launched the Teacher Grant program at the start of the school year to provide teachers with resources for innovative, smaller-scale projects they’ve designed to meet the specific needs of the student experience.

We’re thrilled to share that teachers are already using the program to purchase a pug mill for recycling clay across Carbondale schools, volleyball equipment for the CMS program, and conga drums for the CCS music program. Other requests include expanding Spanish resources, enhancing special education programming, acquiring film animation technology, outdoor education equipment, and more. Stay tuned for updates and stories from the teachers and students benefiting from these grants!

Thriller Flash Mob Benefitting CEF (Main & 4th St. - Saturday October 26 at 4PM)

Please join us by The Painted Pig for the annual Thriller Flash Mob as all proceeds to this year’s event will go to CEF.

Thank you to the kind folks at Bonedale Ballet and Coredination for spearheading this event and for allowing CEF to be the non-profit beneficiary!

Please add CEF as the beneficiary of your City Market Community Rewards Account

Did you know that a portion of your grocery spending can be directly applied to support CEF? Adding CEF as the non-profit beneficiary to your City Market account takes 30 seconds and can have a huge impact on our ability to achieve our mission.

Please visit this link for instructions on how to add CEF to your City Market Community Rewards program.

Come meet CEF at the RVR Non-Profit Night on November 12 (Ranch House at 5:30PM)

RVR will be hosting monthly Non-Profit Nights where community members can come and learn about some of the amazing non-profits in our Valley. They have invited CEF to come and tell attendees about our organization and its mission. If you live in RVR or would just like to learn more about what we are up to, please join us!