This Fund Creates Its Own Interest Excell Foundation Grants Spent On Students

The Excell Foundation has sent the imaginations of Coeur d’Alene students to the moon.

The foundation that gives cash grants to local teachers is planning to go even further now that it has reached its $500,000 fund-raising goal.

The foundation was started by three parents in 1985, a time when the Coeur d’Alene School District was struggling financially and teachers had no cash for classroom extras. With zero dollars in the bank, the foundation began recruiting local businesses and district patrons to give money.

Fifteen years later, the foundation has given out $400,000 in grants to local teachers, who have used the money for everything from computer equipment to fabric, so students could learn math by sewing quilts.

Next week, it will dole out another $40,000 to area teachers. About 45 teachers applied for grants this year.

“These extras create excellence in learning,” Foundation President Stephanie Powers said.

The foundation plans to publish a community report this year, detailing where all the cash has gone. It’s also looking into annuities and bequeathals, in addition to normal fund raising.

Hayden Elementary’s Judy Bieze, who was the 1999 Idaho Teacher of the Year, said every one of the district’s 9,000 students probably have benefited from Excell cash.

“It allows teachers to be creative and to look at the needs and challenges of children and figure out ways to meet their needs,” Bieze said. “It’s a beautiful marriage.”

Bieze, who has received 11 grants over the years, worth more than $15,000, said the Excell Foundation has also made the community more aware of public school needs.

The first-grade teacher used one grant to propel her student’s interest in space. She bought books on planets and astronauts and NASA videos that showed how people can live in space.

Hayden Meadows still uses the materials.

Some of Bieze’s other grant projects have been in coordination with other local schools, such as the one that teaches first-graders about climatic differences between Africa, Australia and the Arctic.

On Thursday, the Idaho Trust Co. will give the foundation $5,000 for a Nov. 20 party celebrating the group’s success.

Idaho Trust President Tom Prohaska said the company not only donates money to the foundation, but its employees volunteer time.

“What you know when you give money to Excell is that it goes directly to the teacher, which directly benefits those kids.”