Late last year, Julie Sole set a goal to raise $5,000 in donations by this coming summer to create an endowment fund for the Disability Action Center (DAC) in Fairmont. What happened was completely unexpected.

   

 It’s barely even spring and Sole has already raised more than $7,300 which, when matched with $5,000 from the center’s budget, means the DAC Education and Resource Fund through Your Community Foundation is already fully funded with more than $12,000.

 

“We raised this money from January to March by asking the people who care about us,” said Sole, executive director of the DAC. “Our friends stepped up. The response was overwhelming.”

       

The fund was formally established at a gathering of DAC members, family and friends when Sole signed the Fund Agreement along with Nicholas Austin, president of Your Community Foundation (YCF).

       

DAC serves clients from Marion, Harrison, Monongalia and Taylor counties.

       

“Our goal now is to grow the fund and use the interest it accrues to give back in the form of Assist Award Scholarships to special needs students in the county high schools,” Sole said.

       

Austin said YCF is honored to be a part of the endowment fund, which the foundation will invest to increase its value while continuing to accept donations from individuals, businesses and groups that support the DAC.

       

“We will do our best custodial job with these funds and invest them wisely,” he said. “Hopefully this is just the beginning. Also, creation of this endowment will enable DAC to accept in-kind donations and possibly even larger grants.”

       

Earlier, Austin toured the renovated facility at 102 Benoni Avenue, which had previously been home to Mid-City Bowling and Webster College, and called it “nothing short of remarkable.”

       

Ray Richardson, who helped start the Assist Award in support of his disabled daughter, said the idea was to have a foundation to manage the endowment, which led to the partnership with YCF.

       

“I’ve attended a number of high school graduations in different capacities,” Richardson said. “You sit back there and see the valedictorian and all of the other awards that were given, but the ones that really worked equally hard within their own capabilities were the special education students. To sit back and not see any recognition at all for these people got to me.”

       

Sole said she hopes the endowment fund will grow large enough to enable DAC to award “mini-grants” and support other educational needs of individuals with disabilities and their families and potentially aid in home modifications, training and support services, personal development or assistive technology.

       

“This is a great day for us at DAC,” she said.  “We have a lot of good ones but this is a great one.”

     

YCF is a charitable, non-profit organization that encourages, develops and manages endowment funds and uses the net proceeds to support a long list of community programs and scholarships. The foundation manages assets and pledged assets of more than $11 million and administers more than 160 separate funds.

     

Editor's Note: In the photo above, Julie Sole and Nick Austin sign the Fund Agreement creating the DAC Education and Resource endowment to be managed by YCF