Lee County nonprofit thanks supporters
They came to cheer a nonprofit that helps Lee County school kids succeed.
Cheered for the ongoing efforts of The Foundation for Lee County Public Schools, Inc., formed in 1986 and hosting its annual Partners in Education breakfast on Friday, but also cheered Lee County for enduring and surviving a couple of bad years, first with the pandemic, then Hurricane Ian in September.
And guests on Friday at the packed Broadway Palm Theatre in Fort Myers also heard the district’s superintendent, Dr. Christopher Bernier, reflect on Lee County schools, its board and its achievements. His remarks also touched on future strategies in the 100,000-student district.
The morning event allowed Foundation executives to thank its advocates and backers, who over the years had given $45 million in donations to support Lee County schools in programs, grants and scholarships.
“We wanted to remind you why we’re all here,” the Foundation’s president and CEO, Marshall Bower, said in opening remarks after a Tice Elementary School troupe, the Singing Eagles, performed a short Mickey Mouse themed musical.
A trio with Cape Coral High School’s Cape Chorale sang the National Anthem following the posting of colors by a JROTC squad from South Fort Myers High School.
The 90-minute event also recognized John E. “Jack” Thomas, a Fort Myers man who had given nearly $2 million to the Foundation. Thomas was a Milton Hershey School graduate, Class of ’39. The school originally started in 1909 as a place for orphaned kids. Milton and Katherine Hershey funded it with proceeds from their chocolate company. Its endowment had since paid the tuition for more than 11,000 graduates. Thomas had credited the school for his success. Its president, Pete Gurt, on Friday provided a tribute to Thomas, who was orphaned at age 8. Thomas died last September. He was 99.
“Today is a life-transforming day,” Gurt said of Thomas’s official recognition as a major donor.
Bernier in his second state-of-the-district remarks recounted district accomplishments that included getting Lee County kids back to school weeks after Hurricane Ian’s demolition of Southwest Florida.
“Return we did,” he said, adding that the “entire community continues to be in recovery.”
Friday’s event, themed by the Universal Pictures’ film “Minions”-as in There are a Minion Reasons to Support Education-also recognized Jareah Plummer of Bonita Springs High School as an outstanding student volunteer, Tuesday Shannon as the outstanding adult volunteer, and the bravery of Kimmy Hachey, a Bonita Springs elementary student and a leukemia survivor.
Sponsors, students and others were also hailed, including the owners of FK (Foster Kids) Your Diet, a Fort Myers-based diner that during Hurricane Ian fed hundreds of Lee County families.
The morning closed with a medley by the Gateway High School marching band, a Golden Apple teacher recipient, Luis Fisher, directing the kids.
“I will put our schools against anyone,” Bernier had said as marching band horn and flute players and drummers filed in.
To reach CRAIG GARRETT, please email news@breezenewspapers.com