1. 15 discount on book club selection
2. 10% discount on author event books
3. Email on promotions and specials specifically for book clubs
4. A place for your book club to meet in our Reading Room upstairs free of charge

The contest is for all students in Baldwin County Public Schools and winners will be picked from each participating school of more than 30 entries.  Winners receive a copy of Creech’s new novel Castle Corona, a ticket to the event and reserved front row seating.  Your essay or illustration will be bound in a book to present to Ms. Creech at the event.

Fairhope group gets national recognition

FEEF sets example for future and existing support clubs in county
By PENELOPE DEESE
Staff Reporter
03/30/04

A local grassroots organization has received national attention for its efforts to improve local schools and teacher instruction.

The Fairhope Education Enrichment Foundation, founded in 1996 as an endowment fund for local campuses, recently received The Civic Star Award.

The distinction, presented by the American Association of School Administrators and partner agency, Sodexho School Services, names the organization as the most outstanding school-community partnership program in Alabama. FEEF's Pelican's Nest project -- which helped create a science center -- as well as its development of a $1 million endowment, were both factors in securing the award, a press release said.

As a state winner, the foundation is also featured in a magazine distributed by the association that lists other recipients across the country. Representatives from Sodexho School Services and the American Asso ciation of School Administrators presented the award to Dee Fuhrman, FEEF director and group president, at a March 18 Baldwin County Board of Education meeting. Bob Callahan, a board member who represents the Fairhope area, praised the foundation for its role in bringing the community closer

"Your efforts have been transformational in our schools, and you have brought together all segments of our community in support of our schools and our teachers," he said.

FEEF was originally formed to help fulfill a request from the principal of the Fairhope K-1 Center to possibly build a marine science lab. That $230,000 project has been completed, but the organization continues to expand its services. Funding from the foundation also helps pay for teacher development

Harriet Outlaw, executive assistant to the school system superintendent, said groups like FEEF are assets to the system, especially when state budget cuts have shrunk funding for many nonessential programs. "We feel that this is definitely a model for what foundations can mean to a community. This is quite an honor," she said when the award was presented.

In a recent interview, she expressed hope that more such groups are created in the county.
"We are depending on foundations to help fill in the gaps. I would love to see educational enrichment foundations in all communities in Baldwin County."

The board is now in the midst of a professional study on the effectiveness of community organizations like FEEF, Outlaw said.

"We are finding that communities that have foundations, the public feels a higher sense of ownership in the schools because they can see the direct result of ... their donations," she said.

Another Eastern Shore city began to organize a similar group as soon as planning began on a new high school. Members of the Spanish Fort High School Enrichment Foundation, which began organizing about two years ago, are working to raise money to provide any activities or resources students at the new campus might not immediately have.
"We know that having a new school ... there's just a lot of new things they won't have right off the bat," said Esther Wilson, publicity director for the foundation. "You have a football field but no stadium, no lights. You have a library but it's half stocked."

So far, the group has about 350 members, but Wilson said more are joining each week. The goal is 1,000, and with a wide variety of people joining, that may not be out of reach, she said. Although Wilson said she and her husband, who is treasurer, have a child who will soon be attending the campus, many of the members don't.

"Everybody that's involved, they don't have children that's about to go in like we do," she said. "We want to meet the excellence that we feel we have now at Spanish Fort elementary and middle and Rockwell school."

Wilson said the Spanish Fort organization drew much of its inspiration from FEEF, a group she said merits the recognition it has received.

"They deserve a reward, I tell you that," she said.