WiSH reaches $500K mark
WiSH Education Foundation officials announced they’ve reached the half-million-dollar mark in charitable contributions to the schools and students of the William S. Hart Union High School District.
Founded in 2011, WiSH, which stands for William S. Hart for the district, has been hosting events, silent auction, raffles and collecting contributions, under Amy Daniels, the executive director of the nonprofit created to support school programs.
The contributions go toward equipment and materials in Hart District classrooms that are then used by students, with a particular emphasis in the past few years on science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics programs, Daniels said. The items purchased by WiSH include computers, musical instruments, materials for special education and underserved students, libraries and more.
“There has been over $550,000 in distributions to the schools through the WiSH Education Foundation since (2011),” said Daniels. “That is from all sources — private donors who want to fund a particular program, individual public support, grants, corporate partners.”
Daniels said she was honored to have been selected by the board (whose membership ranges from 13-15 people at any given time) back in 2011. The first event official event was a fun run for the foundation, and while no longer an event hosted by WiSH, other events such as Cocktails on the Roof and Wine of the Roof have become sold-out events each year.
“The very first thing we bought for the district was $50,000 worth of science equipment, and it was amazing to see what the kids were doing,” said Daniels. “It just started from there, and now we get emails from school admins asking if there’s anyway we can help.”