The small core group of volunteers that make up the Franklin Education Foundation is once again bringing back its Harlem Wizards Vs. Franklin Public Schools “Team FPS” fundraiser, to be held at Tri-County Regional Vocational Technical High School, at 147 Pond St., Franklin, on November 22nd, at 7 p.m. (doors open at 6 p.m.). Tickets for the Harlem Wizards game can be can be ordered online at https://harlemwizards.thundertix.com/events/151533.
Doors open at six. Tickets are $15 for adults and $12 for students in advance, and, if still available, $17 for adults and $14 for students at the door. In addition, a special courtside package and reserved seating is also available in advance, as are game jerseys.
“This is by far our biggest fundraiser,” says Franklin Education Foundation’s Kit Brady, of the specific Harlem Wizards team that will come to Franklin. “We tend to sell out.”
The Harlem Wizards will play Team FPS, (for Franklin Public Schools). This group is comprised of teachers, administrators, and “this year, we have a really good team of high school players playing also,” says Brady.
The FEF chooses Tri-County as the venue, says Brady, because the gymnasium at Tri-County could hold a large number of people for a single event.
“Franklin’s gym can hold 1,600, but with two gyms of 800, the setup was not amenable to us,” says Brady, who adds that Tri-County was “very approachable,” even though the education foundation does not fund its school. It’s a bigger, one-court gym, and they’re very gracious to let us use it every year. It’s worked out great each year.”
The Harlem Wizards, says Brady, promote a positive message about overcoming hardship to succeed. “A lot of them have overcome very personal hardships, and here they are playing professional basketball,” says Brady.
The Harlem Wizards was started back in 1962 by sports promoter Howie Davis. This show basketball group, with three teams, played in over 400 communities across the USA just last season alone, while raising over $2 million. The two-hour November 22nd game will present Harlem Wizards’ brand of “Trick Hoops & Alley Oops” entertainment basketball has been packing gyms across the globe for over 50 years. Their show includes amazing slams, world-class tricks, precision teamwork and humor.
The night will also include many great raffle items and food (pizza, donuts and popcorn) available for cash purchase. You can also order a Wizards shirt online when you order your tickets and pick it up the night of the game.
Since 1997, the Franklin Education Foundation, which holds regular board meetings once a month and is open to new volunteers, has funded over $400,000 in education grants to Franklin Public Schools. Franklin Public School staff are encouraged to submit creative, innovative ideas for programs or activities that would not traditionally be funded by tax dollars.
“They send us the grants in October,” says Brady. “We have a review committee meeting in December, and then we give the money at the beginning of the (calendar) year, in January. The 2020 awards will be given in January.”
In January 2019, the FEF awarded 10 grants totaling $25,905 to teachers at all levels of Franklin Public Schools. Grant recipients included:
• Horace Mann Middle School - Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) social emotional competencies curriculum library to provide high interest young adult literature to support the 5 CASEL social emotional competencies
• Kennedy Elementary School – Epson projector set up for physical education and health lessons.
• Parmenter Elementary School – Design thinking and digital literacy makerspace.
• District wide - Author visits to all FPS middle schools, which would engage approximately 1300 students.
• Remington Middle School – for Video production studio (year 2), which would establish a modern video production studio to address the need for live and recorded video to enhance curriculum and communication inside and outside the school.
• Remington Middle School – Funded equipment and supplies needed for an art lesson where all students at Remington created a fused glass tile that will be part of a Celebrate Diversity Art Installation on the grounds of the school.
• Remington Middle School – A continuation of an interdisciplinary project in which students create mosaics while integrating art, math and social studies concepts.
Franklin High School:
• Funded a language lab to provide English learning students with accessibility accommodations that they can use at school and outside of the English language development class as well.
• Funded the creation of a large-scale art installation that students, faculty and staff made together for the main entrance of the school.
• Created active and passive “fandom” programming activities that the Library used to create goodwill and help to promote a culture of reading in the school.
Volunteers are needed to continue this important funding! In fact, says Brady, the annual trivia bee was canceled this year, due to a lack of volunteers.
“We’re a very thin skeleton of volunteers getting smaller and smaller, these things are getting harder and harder to pull off,” says Brady.
Meetings are held once a month when grants are submitted, and in the spring, every other month, on the second Thursday night of the month at Franklin Town Hall in the third-floor training room. If you are interested in helping to fund innovative education ideas for students at Franklin Public Schools, contact Lisa Brady at l.lisabrady@comcast.net.
See www.franklined.org or Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/franklined.org for more information on the Franklin Education Foundation.
The Franklin Education Foundation is a 501c3 non-profit organization. All gifts are fully tax deductible.