LDN - Today's Top Stories

The story behind fundraising

[MARCH 30, 2000] Fundraising has become a means to "the extras" for school districts in Logan County. Students, parents and teachers raise thousands of dollars each year to purchase additional items for students and for the schools. Lincoln Community High School has more than 40 student and booster clubs. Each student club, such as the French, library and national honors clubs, are allowed to have one fundraiser each year, while the booster clubs have 10 to 12 annual fundraisers.

"We sell everything," said Darrell Hanslow, activity director for LCHS, "There is a fundraiser going on every week of the year." He added, "I'd estimate that our annual fundraising efforts raise over $50,000 per year, with most of these funds being raised by the booster clubs for the athletic teams." This is in addition to the $300,000 that the school provides per year for school athletics.

[Posters like this one promote the importance of reaching the fundraising goal]

West Lincoln-Broadwell’s Parent Teachers Organization (PTO) and booster clubs hold annual chili suppers and pancake and sausage breakfasts. The school also participates in Market Day, a fundraiser that sells packaged food throughout the year. This year's fundraising profits have been earmarked for a learning garden that will be planted on the school's property this spring, according to Terrica Buchholz, the school’s secretary.

The fundraising cooperative Market Day earns Chester-East Lincoln (CEL) $300-$600 per month according to Kathy Martinie, the program’s parent coordinator. Martinie places the orders and Ron Ackerman, a CEL parent, takes care of the distribution of the products. "It has a large following, with a good group of supportive parents who go above and beyond the call to help the students." This year’s profits from Market Day and community club activities, a PTO project, will go toward purchasing books for a reading program that encourages reading at all ages.

In addition to items sold by students, the school also participates in corporate fundraisers by collecting labels and points from cereal boxes, cans and other products. These proof of purchase seals are then turned in to the companies in exchange for software, rewards and money. Most of CEL’s fundraisers are school-wide efforts. The administration surveys the staff each year to determine how the profits will be used.

Judy Alberts, principal at CEL, said their fundraisers collect about $6,000-7,000 annually. This is in addition to an activity fee that is collected with each student’s registration fees. Alberts commented, "Teachers are energetic about the fundraisers. The trend is to do something different. I think we’ve done that. Our fundraising success lies in the variety of items that we offer, and we don’t overlap fundraisers."

All of the eighth graders raise money to be put towards expenses for their class trip, usually to Chicago or St. Louis.

[Kathy Martinie, Ron Ackerman and Judy Alberts take pride in Chester-East Lincoln fundraisers]

Each of the schools contacted expressed gratitude to the community, parents, and teachers who have helped their respective schools raise funds.

[Kym C. Ammons-Scott]

Save Our Schools Committee seeks enforcement from "preservation police"

[MARCH 29, 2000] The Save Our Schools Committee, a group of Lincoln residents dedicated to preserving Central Elementary and Lincoln Junior High Schools, met Tuesday evening to explore ways to continue efforts to prevent the buildings from being demolished. Earlier this month the District 27 School Board approved replacing both schools with new facilities.

"Obviously the decision at the March board meeting changed the picture dramatically for us," said Valecia Crisafulli, who chaired the meeting. "We are no longer trying to convince the board to change something already past and decided. A lot of you have spoken eloquently before the board but have not been heard. We are looking at a shift in focus," she told the 25 members who attended.

That shift will include using influence at the state level to try to preserve the schools. Guest speaker Stephen A. Thompson of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency outlined the type of review process Central and Lincoln Junior High will have to go through if they are to get the 73 percent state funding which the school district is applying for. He indicated that the mandatory review by his agency could provide a means to prevent, or at least delay, the demolition.

A law which went into effect in 1990, the Illinois State Agency Historic Resources Preservation Act, requires that an evaluation be made of any state-funded project to determine whether the site is a historic resource and whether the proposed project would have an "adverse effect" on the resource. Thompson is the resource protection manager of the Preservation Services Division, a position he described as the "preservation police."

Agencies undertaking projects using state funds, such as the construction of schools, are required to notify the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency. "They come in and tell us what they’re doing," Thompson said. "About 25 percent of the projects could very well be historic resources."

The IHPA looks at the architecture and engineering immediately, he said, and then determines if the site in question meets the requirements set by the National Register of Historic Places. One such requirement is that the site must have a "social history" in the community, and schools such as Central Elementary and Lincoln Junior High would meet that criterion, he said.

His agency might consider demolition of a building an "adverse effect" if there are no other new buildings in the neighborhood or if the area is a historic district, he added. After determining that there is an "adverse effect," his agency would ask that the applicant for funding (in this case District 27) to look for a "feasible and prudent alternative" to the original plan.

If no alternative can be agreed on, the state agency in charge of the project, probably the Illinois State Board of Education, must hold a public hearing at which all interested parties may speak. After this review, if the Historic Preservation Agency still believes there is a "viable alternative," the issue goes to a mediation committee. However, Thompson said in the 10 years he has been with the agency no project has gone through the entire process.

He pointed out that in order to get funding for the two new schools, the District 27 school board must apply to the Illinois State Board of Education, which then submits the project to the state’s Capital Development Board. After that an environmental impact study is done, which includes the review by the Historic Preservation Agency. "Somebody has to sign off so they (CDB) can release the funds. We come in at the end," he commented.

"Can you actually shut down a project?" one committee member asked.

"I’ve done it," Thompson replied.

Members discussed other avenues that might help their cause. Lincoln resident, Joyce Kinzie said she believed the public did not have adequate information about the specifics of the district’s plan. "Before demolition and a building program take place we should have information from the administration on what the projected needs of the district are and what kinds of space not now available will be needed."

Paul Short, also of Lincoln, said the committee should continue to let everyone know that it wants to deal openly and positively with the school board and the state agencies involved.

The committee will schedule another meeting in May, but no date has yet been set.

[Joan Crabb]

Part 2 of 3

A mission of mercy

The story of a local woman’s compassion for the Pokot people

[MARCH 28, 2000] In 1997 Barb O’Donohue took a trip which changed her life. She traveled with Lincolnites Dr. Paul and Mary Boatman to the remote African village of Tapandany. While there she caught the vision begun by a 1993 graduate of Lincoln Christian Seminary, the Honorable Samuel L. Poghisio, a member of the Kenyan Parliament.

In 1995, while the Boatmans were with Poghisio, he shared with them the need for a school in that village. Poghisio’s sister went to the village and began teaching the children sitting under a tree. The school continued to grow with some support from the Lincoln community, but there was a need for a more formal organization and someone to administrate it. "Our primary goal [for this trip] was to solidify the relationship there," Dr. Boatman stated.

[While they live in villages with
dirt floors and small huts, the Pokot
people receive generous gifts
of clothing from the United States, including
donations from organizations in Lincoln. Notice the young boys Lincoln Area
YMCA t-shirt]

On O’Donohue’s first visit to Tapandany, she connected with the people and the job at hand. Returning home, she set to work. "Barb’s administrative skills just kicked in," Boatman commented. She got to work filing all the proper paper work for an organization to provide coordination for the projects in Tapandany.

What O’Donohue saw and felt while meeting the Pokot people moved her heart and soul. She says, "I was struck deep by the people." She came back focused on the things that needed to be done. She redirected her own life, making sacrifices that would affect her daily life. Her priorities now included the Children of Pokot Education, COPE. She had the upstairs of her downtown business, General Consulting Services, remodeled so she could live there, and she redesigned the structure of her business so she could travel and spend time, four to six weeks at a time, in the village a of couple times each year.

While looking through a few of the pictures that vividly reflect village life, Barb comments, "Some people would look at these people and say that they are primitive. They are not primitive, they are a highly evolved culture." The Pokot people, once a nomadic tribe, have become what is termed a "marginal people." They have settled and are no longer able to move to more bountiful areas of land. They must make a living in a place where the land quality is poor. Living is a challenge. "These are a people that are at risk for extinction," Ms. O’Donohue says. "I truly cannot imagine this earth without the Pokot. Somehow, they add a grace and rhythm to this earth. There would be this hollow sound or lack of sound without them."

Droughts continue to take a toll in this region. Several years of drought have reduced much of the food supply. Hunger is a daily reality. Some of the children come to school just because they know they will get what might be their only meal that day.

The Pokot are a culture in which the women are the laborers. While the men gather and discuss world issues, the women do the work. After laboring in the fields and caring for their families, the women will gather and not sit. They continue to work, sometimes intricate beadwork which is sold at market, as they discuss their families. A primary COPE goal is to establish cottage industries to help supplement the villager’s income.

In terms of life and work, O’Donohue speaks of "Pokot time." The speed with which something gets done in Pokot is not the same as we would expect in the western world. It is quite the opposite to "a New York minute." Pokot-time is more like that of a rabbit which runs, then stands stock still, and may, after some prodding, take off running again. Though she was often frustrated at first, O’Donohue has learned to recognize some of the functional and cultural roadblocks the villagers are up against.

"Sometimes they run out of materials," she emphasizes, "and so a project will just come to a standstill until I get there and get it going again." Often it is a lack, loss or temporary displacement of vision, which curtails a project. "It has been an extremely valuable life lesson for me," she says with a laugh, "learning to live in Pokot-time."

As an example, the recently completed block schoolhouse was made three blocks at a time because there were just three molds. When 1,500 of the blocks were made, the men ran out of cement. There was a wait for funds for the remaining 1,500 blocks to be made. Though long after the scheduled time for completion, the 3,000 blocks were assembled and the new schoolhouse was completed. According to O’Donohue, the villagers are now taking great pride and ownership in it. They enthusiastically talk about coordinating green uniforms with the green roof and ponder how to raise school fees for study materials. "They are very proud of their accomplishment," she adds.

Having a school started is not enough to make a permanent difference in the lives of the villagers, however. With her skillful insights, O’Donohue continues to pick and choose projects that guide the villagers into self-sufficiency and a better quality of life. With education and health of the children at the center of COPE, she has taken into effect many influential factors and implemented a number of other projects to help the community. At present, the proposed projects include a new school building, daily meals for the children, seeds for crops and nutritional guidance, an irrigation system, immunizations, basic medications, hygiene and drinking water education, a community well which Lincoln Rotary Club is helping with, and cottage industries such as making ovens, bread, and jewelry to sell at market or in nearby communities. O’Donohue also wants to find ways to provide basic medical and dental care.

[O'Donohue learns a few new dance steps during a celebration]

By taking the time to live in the village, O’Donohue has gotten to know the needs and abilities of the people. Her dedication has been of immeasurable value to the village, but if you ask her, she might say she has been the greater beneficiary. She will tell you how much she has fallen in love with the people. She remembers each one by name, every day, even when she is away from them.

[Daily sustenance is called "Ugi" by the Pokot people]

Editor’s note: When O’Donohue returns from her stint in Africa, LDN will catch up with her to see what she did on her recent visit with the Pokot people.

[A young woman seeks medical attention from O'Donohue]

[Jan Youngquist]

Part 1 of 3

Lincoln's helping hands reach all the way to Africa

Barbara O’Donohue on the way to Kenya

[MARCH 6, 2000] What is on your agenda for this week? If you could sneak a peek at one Lincoln woman’s daily planner, it might look like this: This week’s agenda: Go to a small, remote village in Africa. Stay in "mud huts, graciously shared by the most wonderful people you could meet."

Owner and president of a Lincoln-based business, General Consulting Services, Barbara O’Donohue left the States March 5thfor a return trip to Kenya. She will be working as a volunteer for the Children of Pokot Educational Fund (COPE), an organization she helped found. The Pokot village she will be visiting is located in the country of Kenya, in the Kacheliba District. This will be one of Ms. O’Donohue’s shorter trips, taking four weeks instead of the usual five or six. She will be working with tribal leaders, women, educators and other villagers.

[Barbara O'Donohue and Sam Poghisio]

How did Ms. O’Donohue, a Lincoln businesswoman, first connect with a village in Africa? The story begins with Sam Poghisio, a Kenyan who attended Lincoln Christian Seminary.

Poghisio was an exile from Kenya when he arrived in Lincoln in the early '90s. He came on a scholarship to Lincoln Christian Seminary. Back in Kenya Poghisio had been a member of Parliament. He was expelled from the Parliament during a difficult political time. Poghisio’s strong stances had provoked those in power, and his safety was endangered. Shortly after Poghisio came to Lincoln, his wife, Pauline, joined him. Mrs. Poghisio was about to give birth to the couple’s first child and had been unable to attain a visa. After the birth of their daughter, Chelimo, Mrs. Poghisio was granted a visa and came to join her husband.

Poghisio earned his master of divinity degree in 1993, and the family returned to Kenya the following year. He took a professorship at Africa’s largest Christian university, Nairobi’s Daystar University. He resumed his works for his people and was elected back into the Parliament of Kenya in 1998.

Paul and Mary Boatman of Lincoln were traveling with Poghisio in 1995. During that visit in a remote village of the Pokot province, the Boatmans learned of the needs of Pokot. They observed children milling around, children who should have been in school. There are no schools readily accessible in the remote area around Pokot. Poghisio explained to the Boatmans that the children of this village grew up without education. The boys became tribal warriors, and the girls married the boys.

Poghisio dreamed of educating the children of Pokot, and asked his well-educated sister if she would go there to teach. She agreed. Poghisio’s sister opened school under a tree.

After seeing the children and meeting the villagers during her visit to the village, O’Donohue caught the vision. She came home inspired by the wonderful people. With the support of the Boatmans and other Lincolnites, she took on the leadership to establish COPE, which has helped the school to grow.

Later, the class moved to a shelter, a grass hut where the children sat on dirt floors. Since then, a new building has been constructed, and the school children will soon move into it. The little schoolhouse has a concrete floor, tin roof and no desks. It is divided into five rooms. Poghisio smiles and says proudly, "The children will no longer have to sit in the dust."

[Poghisio poses with artifacts of his native country]

Four teachers and 150 children are looking forward to moving into the new school. They now claim one of the highest enrollments in the district, and the school is one of the few offering a Bible-based education. Lincoln people have joined the Boatmans and Ms. O’Donohue in supporting the schoolhouse in Pokot.

Sam Poghisio recently returned to Kenya after a brief visit to the States. He was here with many other world leaders on an invitation to the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C. The members of the U.S. Congress hosted the breakfast, with the President and Mrs. Clinton also in attendance. Poghisio swung though Lincoln to see some of his friends here and to express his great appreciation for the people who support COPE.

[Jan Youngquist]

(Part 2)

Schools to go down

[MARCH 16, 2000] In an unexpected move, Lincoln Elementary School District 27 school board voted Wednesday night to rescind last month’s decision to renovate Central Elementary School and to approve replacing both Central Elementary and Lincoln Junior High School with new facilities.

The change in plans came after Superintendent Robert Kidd reported that he had received little support from the Lincoln City Council for permission to move a 6-by-6 foot city sewer line that runs across Ralph Gale Field. The sewer would have to be moved before the school district could complete its original plan to build a new school on that site.

Although the City Council meeting held Tuesday evening was a work session and no official vote was taken, Dr. Kidd said there did not appear to be support for moving the sewer, but instead appeared to be opposition. He said aldermen opposed changing the big walk-in sewer line that was functioning well and also cited opposition from constituents who want to keep Ralph Gale Field as open space.

After hearing Kidd’s report, board member Bruce Carmitchel moved to rescind the motion to renovate Central School. A second motion was made to adopt a plan which Dr. Kidd had submitted earlier, which calls for building two new schools: a new Central School facility on the same lot, facing Seventh Street, and a new Lincoln Junior High School.

Both motions passed 5-2, with Board President Bill Bates and Leta Herrington voting no.

Bates said he voted against the motion because he was not in favor of demolishing both of the existing school buildings. He said he favored building a new Central School facility but not demolishing the junior high school at this time.

Mayor Joan Ritter told the Lincoln Daily News this morning that although aldermen said they had received letters from constituents who wanted to keep Ralph Gale Field, the only issue addressed by the council Tuesday evening was the sewer line itself.

She said that, based on the relocation of the sewer line, "There was just not enough technical information given to the council, city engineer and sewer treatment plant manager for the city to give the school board a commitment at this time.

"This is a major trunk line, six feet wide, all brick. Sewer plant manager Grant Eaton said the plans were not detailed enough for him to advise the council how to make a decision," she said.

Dr. Kidd said he believed Wednesday night’s decision would be the end of the controversy over saving Central School. "We have to have all proposals in to the State Board of Education by April 1, and we have no more meetings scheduled until after that date," he noted.

If approved by the State Board of Education, the new building projects will get 73 percent of their funding from the state of Illinois, with the rest coming from a local bond issue. Approval from the state board probably will not come before early summer, Kidd said.

After that, district voters will have to approve a bond issue for the remainder of the funding, which would go on the ballot either in November or at the next municipal election in April of 2001.

"The earliest time we could possibly see dirt turned would be the summer of 2001," Kidd said. The new plan calls for building a new Central Elementary School at the back of the present school lot, moving junior high students into the existing Central facility, then constructing a new junior high school. There are approximately 280 students in both Central Elementary and Lincoln Junior High School, Kidd said.

[Joan Crabb]

(Back to March 29 story)

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