Community Corner

Family Foundation Targets Lakeside-Area Schools for Giving

The grants are available to four schools: Lakeside High, Henderson Middle, Sagamore Elementary and Oak Grove Elementary.

By TOM DOOLITTLE

The Rhame Family Foundation, started in April 2012, has a continuing grant program currently available to four Lakeside High-area schools: Lakeside High, Henderson Middle, Sagamore Elementary and Oak Grove Elementary. The foundation website describes its founder, Tyson Rhame, as a successful businessman giving back to his community. Foundation Executive Director and Lakeside parent Amy Willoughby Wilson said the philanthropist is a graduate of Druid Hills High School and the Air Force Academy and is a highly decorated military pilot who holds the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Air Force Reserve. In addition to being a very successful local entrepreneur responsible for numerous businesses, the financial services entrepreneur and his family are actively involved and embrace helping the community in schools and through nonprofits in the community.

Wilson said her grant base may expand to other schools, and she and her community volunteer board have only been limited by the amount of time they have to contact teachers and identify needs and distribute grants. The Rhame Family Foundation also has a unique aspect: a children's board and a section where students can actually write grant requests to the children's board. Rhame and Wilson’s children participate in monthly field trips to nonprofits in the community and review and grant student written grants by students who submit grant requests from the pilot schools involved with the foundation. Wilson admits to trying to give money to the teachers and students faster than grantees can comprehend her offering.

According to its website, the "Rhame Family Foundation’s primary mission is to support local public schools with grants intended to enrich the learning experience of students and to assist local nonprofit organizations."

Some examples of grants made to schools have included: 40 tennis rackets and support equipment for the physical education at Henderson Middle; computer software for a math class at Henderson Middle; and Three Odyssey of the Mind modules to Sagamore Elementary (http://www.rhamefamilyfoundation.org/photos/); and costumes, props, technology (laptops, printers, head sets), research books, class sets of novels and art supplies.

Grants can literally be made just days after applications are submitted. Funds are for very specific school programs and classes and must be requested by individual or groups of teachers rather than by a school. Specific follow-up results must be documented and submitted to the foundation.

Wilson is a former teacher specializing in gifted education and adjunct professor who completed her specialist degree in curriculum and instruction. She recently founded Zone of Light Studio in the Zonolite District across from Sage Hill Shopping Center. The studio is an eclectic classroom setting that, according to Wilson, “focuses on process rather than product — what you learn and how you feel.”

The studio has eight teachers instructing a variety of modules, including creative writing, acting, African art and cartooning. All classes have parents learning with their children. Zone of Light also has corporate events and “adult nights” on Saturdays, including serving adult beverages. The receptions can be used as fundraising events for nonprofit organizations such as school booster clubs, and the Rhame Family Foundation looks forward to events for the non-profits and local schools that work with the foundation.

The program utilizes community contacts and volunteers (http://www.rhamefamilyfoundation.org/get-involved/apply-here/). Rhame Family Foundation is always looking for volunteer experts to share their skills to the local schools that have specific requests.

Feel free to contact Amy Wilson at amywwilson@rhamefamilyfoundation.org for further information about the Rhame Family Foundation and ways to get involved.


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