Aine Sonnen’s ties to Beaverton public schools run long and deep, and her connections and support for Beaverton Education Foundation go nearly back as far. To her, giving and receiving support from her community is priceless.
“It’s hard to remember since it was so long ago, probably 20 years now, but I think my first BEF donation was to support a literacy program at Beaver Acres Elementary School, where I was teaching and my two sons were in school,” reminisces Aine, who has taught in the District since 1996 at Beaver Acres, Hiteon, and now Cooper Mountain Elementary Schools.
Since then, she’s not only grown her donations to BEF, but also seen first-hand the benefits of BEF’s awards to her schools. When she and her colleagues needed new technology so their young students could see screen images better as the natural light moved around their classrooms during the day — since seeing those images clearly makes a huge difference when you’re learning to read, she says — BEF was there with an award for the necessary devices. And after BEF’s Summer Boost program provided high-interest books for elementary students across the District to keep to build their home libraries, two new readers excitedly approached Aine on the first day of school this fall to show her how they could now read the books they’d received thanks to BEF.
“I love how BEF facilitates local support for local projects,” says Aine, who values not only BEF’s classroom projects, but the impact of its District-wide initiatives. “BEF funds programs with an equity lens, making sure all students can have the same experiences, no matter how much their PTO can raise. I give to BEF because I know they’re going to get the biggest reach with my donations.”
For years, Aine has made a monthly donation to BEF, and now uses the payroll deduction option. When she stops to think about it, after a year, she’s given $240 with just $20 a month. “I might not feel able to give a larger sum like that all at once, but I can afford $20 at a time. Now that the automatic deduction happens on my payday, I don’t miss it,” she says.
“BEF really gives kids experiences that make them feel so successful at learning and excited about school,” Aine says. “As a teacher, BEF gives me flexibility to do what I need to do to make learning engaging. I’m so grateful to be able to have support from BEF and to be able to help, too.”