District reaps dollars

SchoolPower’s 20th annual fundraiser, held March 12 at the Montage Resort and Spa, raised more than $250,000 for the Laguna Beach

Unified School District.

Montage general manager James Bermingham bestowed this year’s

“Heart of Montage” award to SchoolPower, which included a $40,000

donation.

The event included silent and live auctions and a “Fund-A-Need”

auction, which raised $55,000 to improve the foreign language

programs by initiating early education starting in kindergarten.

“What makes SchoolPower so different from other organizations is

that the SchoolPower parents themselves recognized the powerful

benefit of early foreign language programs, and raised $55,000 to

fund them,” Tom Koch, SchoolPower president said. “This will enable

Laguna Beach children and their families to enjoy the benefits of a

program unique to the Laguna Beach Public Schools.”

Attendee parents included Reverend Robert Schuller and his wife

Donna; Bob McKnight, president and CEO of Quicksilver; and Dave

Wilson, president and owner of Wilson Automotive Group, and

Superintendent Theresa Daem.

SchoolPower, founded in 1981, is a nonprofit, nonpolitical group

of parents who raise funds for quality education in the Laguna Beach

Unified School District. Funds raised are given to the district and

distributed to all four schools according to recommendations made by

principals, teachers and the superintendent. For more information,

call (949) 494-6811.