Tippecanoe Valley School Corporation Superintendent Blaine Conley.

MENTONE — Blaine Conley, in his first official appearance as Tippecanoe Valley School Corporation’s Superintendent, discussed fundraising and alumni acknowledgement at the regular meeting of the corporation’s board of school trustees Monday, July 9.

“The Tippecanoe Valley School Corporation has put on a distinguished alumni event in September of each year,” said Conley. “It’s a great evening. It’s Thursday, Sept. 13, at the middle school at 6 p.m. Probably the best part of that evening is when former teachers come back and they’re honored by their former students. So, if you get a chance to attend that, it shows what our community really is all about.”

The board had a corporate sponsorship of $1,000 from Teachers Credit Union to approve that was given to help underwrite the event.

A department within the Kosciusko County government also contributed to the school corporation’s activities as the board heard from Conley about a donation made from Emergency Management Director Edward Rock toward one of the district’s newest initiatives.

“Last month, Donald Bradley came and talked to the board about Project Valley Safe,” said Conley. “Through our connections with Mr. Rock, he’s donated 3,000 gloves and 1,400 N95 masks that can be used in those Valley Safe buckets.”

Project Valley Safe is a program that has been spearheaded by Bradley, a recent Tippecanoe Valley High School graduate. The program is designed to provide a five-gallon bucket full of emergency supplies in each of the corporation’s 144 classrooms. The buckets, called first response buckets, will be filled with emergency supplies such as water or essential first-aid kits.

The corporation also received grants from the Kosciusko County Community Foundation, one of which was earmarked through an anonymous donor for Project Valley Safe. Conley acknowledged the foundation for its philanthropic contributions, but also Tippecanoe Valley’s grant writer, Lori Tilden-Geiger for his efforts

“All three of these grants come from the foundation,” said Conley. “Lori has done a great job with putting grants together for us and getting things moving.”

The remaining Community Foundation grants were approved by the board and earmarked to benefit the school corporation’s Vex Robotics Team and the district’s Farm To Fork Program.

Conley told the board that another program in the school corporation is needing help to reach its full potential.

“We’re trying to raise funds in the Valley Hometown Endowment Fund through Kosciusko County,” said Conley. “At this point, there’s $3,000 in that fund and we’re looking for it to get up to $5,000 so it can be an endowed fund and it can grow and be there forever at that point. We’re really looking to seek some help from the community to help build this. The Valley Hometown Fund not only helps teachers with projects, but there are also community projects that have gotten some great funding from this.”

The board will meet again in regular session at 7 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 13 at Mentone Elementary School.