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Beaverton Education Foundation launched its new Healthy Students initiative this month, bringing health literacy programming and health resources to all Beaverton students and their educators, including school nurses. The first award provides Nurse Tool Kit backpacks to all District nurses, along with professional memberships that include no-cost eye exams and free glasses for all Beaverton students who need them. 

“The District hired several additional nurses in the past year and restructured how they serve the schools, which is putting a strain on available supplies,” says Lori Perkins, the District’s School Nurse on Special Assignment. “We often have to share supplies that are broken or old, or go without some. Having new supplies in a bag we can easily transport from school to school will make a huge difference,” she says, especially since many students use school nursing staff as their first health care contact.

This month, BEF will deliver 23 new backpacks filled with medical supplies including blood pressure cuffs, pulse oximeters, and stethoscopes, to name a few. School nurses will also now have professional memberships to the Oregon School Nurses Association (OSNA) and the National School Nurses Association (NSNA). These memberships provide school nurses with referrals for students to get free eye exams and glasses, downloadable and multilingual informational handouts for students, a well-regarded guidebook for school nurses and professional development opportunities.

“Good vision is essential for optimal learning. Many of our students need glasses and need our help to get them,” says Lori. “So often kids break their glasses, and we’re able to fill in the gap when other benefits are exhausted and get our students back to learning quickly. The NSNA benefit can really go the distance — we can provide many thousands of dollars of free vision care for our Beaverton students.”

The memberships also provide downloadable and multilingual informational handouts for students. With 93 languages spoken by families in the District, nurses can help increase understanding of health-related issues. BEF tapped into its strong connections with the District to identify and support health-related programs that meet the needs of students and educators. 

“Last year we started exploring health literacy programming for Beaverton students when we outfitted several wellness spaces where students get refreshed and ready to learn,” says Kristine Baggett, BEF’s executive director. “With the launch of the new Healthy Students initiative, and these Nurse Tool Kits in particular, we’re going to take health literacy and resources to the next level for our students.” 

You can help ensure students have the tools they need to be healthy and ready to learn.

Beaverton Education Foundation’s commitment to connecting our community with classrooms has remained steadfast during our 35-year history, but has been even more important during the pandemic. Over the past two years, BEF has made it a top priority to be quick and responsive to meet our students’ and teachers’ needs, while still advancing long-term BEF initiatives that drive educational innovation and equity. 

In 2021-2022, BEF reached more than 32,547 students – that’s more than 83% of all Beaverton students. We worked directly with 265 educators, supporting 112 programs and classroom projects at all 54 Beaverton schools. We use a proven model that supports educational innovation and empowers bottom-up transformation by turning educators’ ideas into powerful solutions to benefit thousands of students. 

Thanks to generous donors, last year we invested $358,060 to:

• Rebuild students’ connections with school after remote learning through after school programs that combine academics with sports, arts and music – helping 1,000 middle school students across 11 middle schools
• Help our youngest learners stay connected to school and rediscover a love of learning through summer programs for 4,100 elementary school students 
• Introduce middle school students to opportunities that inspire them to stay in school by training for high-paying careers in manufacturing, construction trades and auto tech 
• Support innovative classroom projects and after school activities that integrate hands-on STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) project-based learning
• Make the arts came alive through programmatic support for band, choir and the fine and performing arts
• Empower educators’ innovative classroom projects, ranging from outdoor classrooms to 3D printing
• Provide specialized resources for specific populations including devices for special education students to communicate and wellness rooms to support high school students’ behavioral health
• Replenish much-needed classroom supplies

What’s Next?

Beyond our Cornerstone Programs and Classroom Innovation Grants, BEF is launching new initiatives to meet emerging needs. We are piloting and testing new approaches to grow the most promising and effective programs and projects to serve more schools and more students. Look for news to come about these emerging initiatives:

• PE & Play: promoting movement and exercise during the school day – focusing first on filling gaps at middle and elementary schools that lack key PE and recess equipment 
• Health Literacy: equipping our 23 school nurses, spread across the 54 schools, with supplies and tools to more effectively help students and teach their families about health issues
• Traveling Chemistry Library: helping high school students across the District complete virtual coursework

BEF’s proven model of impact relies on support from our community. With your help, we will continue to support students and educators where they need it most. Join us in supporting Beaverton’s 39,000 students.

When Karen Cunningham was a Beaverton School Board member, she remembers being forced to frequently make budget cuts that meant schools didn’t have any “extras.” “But they’re not really ‘extras’,” she says, “they’re the special projects and innovative ideas that have the power to change the trajectory of our students’ lives.” 

“I saw how BEF makes those projects happen, really enriching our students’ education and engaging kids with hands-on learning. BEF helps fill some of those gaps in the District budget,” she continues. “BEF engages people beyond their own local school in a way that makes it better for all of us, and levels the playing field to make the whole community stronger.”

That’s why Karen and her husband, Ward, have supported Beaverton Education Foundation every year since 1999. They first donated when one of their sons volunteered for BEF’s fall phone-a-thon. Then Karen began her 12 years on the School Board in 2001, and she later took on the role of School Board liaison to BEF’s board.

Karen and Ward are long-time advocates for public education and equity in education. Together they ran a computer consulting business together for many years, and she also taught computer science at Portland State University. They are so committed to Beaverton schools that they worked to ensure that their then-unincorporated Garden Home neighborhood became part of Beaverton rather than Portland, so they wouldn’t lose their connection to Beaverton School District. 

“We feel strongly that public education is one of the most important things we can do as a society. Giving to BEF is our very small way of enhancing it,” explains Karen. 

Make a donation today to help level the playing field so every student can prepare for their brightest future.

As summer fades into fall, there are some things you can count on — students heading back to class, shorter days, chill creeping into the mornings and Beaverton Education Foundation’s annual fundraiser, Answer the Call.

We are excited our annual fall fundraiser will be back in full-force, as we celebrate 24 years of calling. During the course of six evenings from October 11-20, student teams from every high school throughout the District will call asking you to support innovative academic enrichment and advancement programs that reach nearly 40,000 students in all Beaverton’s 54 schools. 

Since our founding in 1988, the Beaverton Education Foundation has invested $5.25 million in programs and projects at Beaverton schools. Last year, we reached 83% of Beaverton students by supporting 112 projects across all 54 District schools.

Your gift makes an impact and funds innovative academic enrichment and advancement programs in all of Beaverton’s 54 schools.

When teacher Chrissy Horne saw the first-hand impact of funding from the Beaverton Education Foundation, she knew she had to play a role in making that happen. 

As a William Walker Elementary School kindergarten teacher, she’s benefited from BEF awards — some years, her students received new bilingual books to read at school or chose high-interest books to add to their growing home libraries, and other years they accessed new apps for learning about music. Now as a regular BEF donor, she’s “funding it forward,” as she says, to help not only her students and colleagues, but those all across the District. 

“I donate to causes that are most important to me and that I have a direct connection to. There’s no better organization than BEF for that,” says Horne, who’s taught at William Walker Elementary School for her entire 28-year career in education. “If you’re going to donate, it makes the most sense to put it right back into where you work and will benefit from it. It’s remarkable to have an organization that’s as tightly connected to our District as BEF is.”  

When she learned she could make a monthly payroll deduction contribution to BEF, Horne signed up. “I give only $10 a month, and while that may seem like a little, when everyone contributes it adds up to a lot,” she says. “And BEF made it so easy to set up my regular donations.”

Horne and her District colleagues who make payroll deduction contributions, together with community and local business donors, make it possible for BEF to reach far and wide. Last year, BEF helped 83% of Beaverton students by awarding over $357,000 across all 54 District schools. 

For Horne and her colleagues at William Walker, that means BEF fills in gaps in the District’s budget and directly funds hands-on learning. Parent-teacher organizations have a different focus, no matter how big or small their budgets are.

“I appreciate that BEF is there to bring our best ideas to life so our students can have memorable learning experiences,” says Horne. “I like that by giving to BEF, I’m reaching farther than my own school. I’m also helping students and teachers at other Beaverton schools like ours that have lower socioeconomic status families.”