East Fairmont High Foundation kicks off annual Bee Week of Giving Saturday
Apr. 13—FAIRMONT — The East Fairmont High School Foundation is buzzing with excitement for the annual Bee Week of Giving, which will be held next week.
The week is held to raise money for the EFHS Foundation, which provides $45,000 in scholarships, educational mini grants and school support to EFHS. This year their goal is to raise $23,000. It's held during volunteer appreciation week to celebrate volunteers who work at the foundation.
For the second year in a row, the week will kick off with a salute to EFHS alumni veterans on Saturday, April 15 at 2 p.m. at the Woody Williams Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 7048, which is co-sponsoring the event. The salute is open to any military personnel, not just VFW members.
"This is for any of the EFHS family — whether you went to East Fairmont, taught there, are on staff, coached there — everyone's invited. Because, we do want to say thank you for your service. Thank you for giving so much and being willing to risk giving it all for our country. We take pride in our veterans and appreciate their service," EFHS Foundation board member and fundraising supervisor Mary Jo Thomas said.
On Thursday, April 20 at 6 p.m., the Inaugural Fundraising Scholarship and Recognition Dinner will be held in the EFHS Commons. All scholarship donors, scholarship recipients and families, alumni, current and former faculty or staff and partners of EFHS are invited to attend. Individual tickets are $23 or $184 for a table for eight. EFHS Foundation President David Nuzum said he's looking forward to the event and more than 160 people are expected to attend.
Thomas said the foundation has talked about hosting the recognition dinner for years, which will also honor emeritus board members, some of whom passed away this year. Thomas said she's excited to see the dinner come to fruition.
"We had talked about this dinner for 25 years and it's finally becoming a reality. We decided we've talked about it long enough, now is the time, let's do it. Also, some of the people that worked hard for the foundation that aren't here, we didn't have time to publicly recognize and thank them," Thomas said.
Thomas added that there aren't many good by-products of the COVID-19 pandemic, but it did help people realize what's really important.
"You know, do it now. You may not have tomorrow," Thomas said.
Nuzum said he's also looking forward to the veteran salute.
"Last year, we had a good number of alumni veterans and I hope that it grows this year," Nuzum said.
The EFHS Foundation was incorporated in 1991 and gave out a handful of $500 scholarships to the 1992 graduating class, Nuzum said. Nuzum said they've grown significantly over the years and is proud of the fundraising they've completed.
"I'm excited for a lot of folks that haven't been involved to be involved with the different events that we've created, I mean, in no way to not say how much we appreciate those that give we want to be able to publicly say thank you, I think, you know, you say thank you privately. But I think it's nice to have a public thank you.
During the week, the foundation is promoting their annual Mother's Day Fern Sale, the third annual McCutchan Car Show on Sept. 2 at the EFHS campus, the all-class reunion on Sept. 23 — while students are having their homecoming dinner and dance — and the Bee Bingo on Oct. 8 at the Knights of Columbus. Fern Sale orders need to be completed following the Bee Week of Giving.
For more information on the Bee Week of Giving or EFHS Foundation, contact Mary Jo Thomas at 202-365-7510.
Reach me at sshriver@timeswv.com or 304-367-2549.
