The Grosse Pointe Foundation for Public Education (GPFPE) is a foundation formed by a group of very dedicated Pointers who were conerned about maintaining excellence in our schools. Its purpose is to raise money to fund initiatives in the Grosse Pointe schools.
The Foundation has gained some incredible momentum in its work the past few years, thanks to the hard work of the founding members and too many other Pointers to name in this posting. The icing on the cake for the Foundation has been the incredible generosity of John and Marlene Boll of the Shores. Two years ago, John and Marlene donated $500,000 towards the completion of the GP South Natatorium and Health Center (now the Boll Center).
The Foundation had their first Gala fundraiser on March 27th, which was an incredible success on all counts. The event was held at the home of Jim and Carol Schebil. Close to 200 guests attended. All told, the live auction and the sold out ticket sales raised around $40,000 for the foundation. One of the fun things for me was seeing an old, old friend, Bruce Hubbard, who was the photographer for the evening. Bruce captured the rare picture of Mary Ann and I (we are usually taking the pictures) to the right.
In a surprise announcement, John and Marlene Boll again stepped up to the plate and announced the $500,000 Boll Technology Challenge Grant. The grant is to be used to update the technology in our schools with items like SmartBoards. Under the terms of the grant, every $1 raised by the GPFPE earmarked towards technology will be matched with $2 by The Boll Foundation. As of the day after the Gala, the GPFPE had raised $110,000 which is earmarked to match John and Marlene's generosity.
To the left is a great picture that Bruce Hubbard took of (left to right) Marlene and John Boll and Mary Ann and Bob Bury.
For more information on the Boll Challenge Grant, please click here or visit the Grosse Pointe Foundation for Public Education web site at www.gpfpe.org.
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