In the first few months of 2021 BEF has supported five high-impact special education projects in Beaverton schools. Thanks to kind support from donors like you, this year’s special education fundraising enabled us to help more students than in the previous three years combined.
In January the Foundation launched a New Project Match focused on the special education needs of our students and staff. The program relied on generous funders, including the Hoover Family Foundation, to double each donation’s impact and encouraged a surge of new projects.
We kicked off 2021 by adding a little fun in big ways to Aloha-Huber Park Middle School’s speech-language program. Purchasing giant version of Jenga, Tic Tac Toe, Connect 4, and Checkers for families to borrow during distance learning gave students the opportunity to play with outdoor versions of familiar games in a safe, whimsical way, while working on and documenting their communication skills.
William Walker Elementary’s Catherine Sementelli and Amy Wood worked with BEF to fund nine complete individual sensory bins filled with helpful and diverse tools key for students to process information, tolerate stimuli, perform routine tasks, and participate in daily activities calmly and safely.
“This will be a game changer for my students,” exclaimed Amy, adding, “I still can’t believe my initial fundraising goal was exceeded, allowing me to fill more bins, and limit sharing to prevent virus spread.”
In March, thanks to matching funds from Intel, BEF helped purchase two additional iPads for Hybrid learning in the District’s Structured Routine Center to help students grow the independence they developed while working with devices during distance learning.
“I am so proud of my students for developing such strong independence in these, the most challenging of times,” said Ashlee. “Thanks to BEF and our community, the new iPads will help us continue to reinforce that independence in a safe way.”
As we transition back to the classroom there are more resource requests than ever before. You can make an impact with your donation. Learn more today.