Thanks to a grant from the Community Foundation, Fort Atkinson High School was able to purchase a 3D printer, a laser engraver and other tools to outfit a new lab to work on fabrication and prototyping.  The science department is closing in on a name for the new lab, with the current front runner being the IDEA Lab where IDEA stands for Imagine, Design, Engineer, Assemble. 

We are encouraged to see FAHS and the science teachers working to prepare our students for the processes and thought patterns that they will need to be competitive in the science and engineering fields of today. 

We didn’t manage to take a group photo of the new 2021 Community Foundation’s Board of Directors because, well, 2020 – but we did want to welcome Dr. Michael Bender to the Chairman’s seat for 2021 and give a special shout-out to our 2020 chairman, Scott Housley. 

Each year, the director who is serving their fifth and final year on the board serves as our chairman and the person who served as chairman the previous year slides into an advisory role as past chairman.  At the Foundation, there is never any angst or arm-twisting about who will serve as chairman.   By their fifth year, directors have learned all the ins and outs of the organization and are ready to take on the mantle of leadership.

So this year, as Mike takes the gavel, Scott will move into the past chairman position.  Scott shepherded the Foundation through an extremely challenging year and it certainly wasn’t what he expected for his capstone year.  But we will be forever grateful for the way he handled everything with such grace and good humor.  Thank you, Scott.

Filling out the 2021 Board of Directors are Vice Chairman Loren Gray, Treasurer Sue Johnson, Secretary Sally Koehler, and Director Lisa Caras.  Supporting the Board are legal counsel James Vance and Executive Director Sue Hartwick.

Mr. Theodore Batterman, who died this past summer, left an indelible imprint on Fort Atkinson.  From the founding of Spacesaver to the Theodore W. Batterman Family Foundation’s generous gifts to capital projects at the Hoard Museum, the Dwight Foster Public Library, the urban bike path, the Haumerson’s Pond project and more, the Batterman Family has touched – and improved - just about every aspect of our community.
 
Now, with a very generous gift to the Fort Atkinson Community Foundation, Ted’s imprint will go even deeper.  At the close of last year, the Foundation received a bequest of $1.5 million from a Charitable Remainder Trust that Mr. Batterman had established at PremierBank here in Fort Atkinson.
 
He asked that $1.2 million go to FACF’s Theodore W. Batterman Family Scholarship Fund to make permanent the scholarship program that FACF and the Batterman Foundation had been co-administering.  Every year, five $12,000 scholarships are awarded to graduating seniors at Fort Atkinson High School whose character is as outstanding as their academic performance (pictured below are the 2017 Batterman Scholarship recipients with Batterman Foundation Executive Director Rebecca Emmons).  To be a Batterman Scholarship recipient is a source of great pride.  This new endowment from Mr. Batterman will ensure that these scholarships can be awarded in perpetuity.

Ted directed the remaining $300,000 to go toward FACF’s BASE Club Fund in support of the afterschool program that he helped launch when he served as FACF Chairman in 2003.  Over the past 17 years, he and his late wife Marilyn devoted substantial resources to the development and growth of the program which is now the thriving Badgerland After School Enrichment (BASE) Club.  It is his legacy.
 
The Foundation has notecards inscribed with a quote from Nelson Henderson that reads, “The true meaning of life is to plant trees under whose shade you do not expect to sit.”  We think Mr. Batterman has planted his share of trees.
 

We recently received a wonderfully generous gift of $44,447 from the estate of Doug and Marianna Dexter.  They asked that it go to our General Fund, an unrestricted fund that gives our directors the most flexibility in responding to community needs – making this a wonderful gift indeed. 
 
Doug and Marianna were both graduates of Fort Atkinson High School, class of 1947 and 1943, respectively.  They had a great love for each other and for our community.  Doug built a long career for himself in the accounting department at W. D. Hoard & Sons, and Marianna, a proud member of the Fort Atkinson Eli Pierce Chapter of Daughters of the American Revolution, also worked in financial services, first at First National Bank (PremierBank) and then Fort Savings and Loan.  Marianna passed away in 2010 and Doug died this past September.
 
As they aged and had health challenges, they leaned on the trust management staff at Badger Bank to act as Trustee for them and help with paying bills and managing their investments.  Ann Herdendorf, senior trust office at Badger Bank told us, “Doug and Marianna loved working with others not to further their own needs but to give back. Now they have fulfilled their dream of leaving a financial legacy for the betterment of others.  I will miss them dearly.”
 
Along with the Community Foundation, the Dexters’ largesse was also extended to the First United Methodist Church, Rainbow Hospice, the Fort Atkinson Historical Society, and Tomorrow’s Hope.  They’ve touched us all with their kindness and their investments will reap benefits for our community.