Four Couples Unite

GIVING BACK

What happens when you bring together Falcon parents who are energetic, imaginative and goal-oriented? Magic … and results!

The combined drives and talents of the 2020-21 FWCD Fund Co-Chairs are evidence of this statement. Recognizing the challenges the pandemic year would present, the Advancement Office approached Laura and Chris Rooker, who had chaired The Fund in 2016-17, with the idea of recruiting a dream team of former Fund Chairs.

“We knew that this Fund year had the potential to be quite difficult, like many things in 2020. Our first thought was to sit down with Katie and Rob Semple [’95], who had chaired The Fund most recently in 2019-20,” Chris said. “We discussed previous Fund Chairs, their differences in philosophy, and the successes they experienced. More importantly, we discussed the passion and commitment each couple had for FWCD and their willingness to take on this task for a second time.”

The couples the Rookers and Semples asked to join them were Helen and Michael Todora, who had served as chairs in 2018-19, and Pam and Jamie Packer, 2017-18 Fund Chairs.

“At the end of the day, it was an easy decision to ask the Todoras and Packers to partner with us to form our team,” Chris noted. “After short conversations with each family, their passion was confirmed, and their commitment was solidified.” This second-time leadership is a first in Fund history.

In this unusual year, the couples recognized that they would not have a volunteer committee with whom to share the workload. Instead, their approach included utilizing alternative communication avenues and methods to ask for annual fund support. They devised new ways to promote The Fund through videos that appealed to different classes or individual donors and a matching gift challenge. The matching gift challenge began in fall 2020. Leslie and John David Moritz, along with their daughters, Meg ’15 and Anna ’20, challenged the community to raise an additional $250,000 for FWCD through increased and first-time gifts to The FWCD Fund. The goal was met in early January 2021, so the Moritz family offered an additional $100,000 for new and increased gifts made by June 30. There was an overwhelming response from the FWCD community.

The four-couple group also earned a special nickname as they began their work. Board of Trustees President Randy Eisenman ’93 named the group Mount Rushmore. “We were reporting results early in the school year when he gave us the nickname. I can only assume that if we were to hit the annual fund goal, someone’s face should be carved into Mount Rushmore,” Chris mused. “However, we do ‘carve’ the names of our great donors onto a wall in the Lou and Nick Martin Campus Center. We call it the Keystone wall.

“There must have been those who did not believe we would hit the $1 million goal in a pandemic,” Chris continued. “We would heartily disagree with this notion.”

This year’s FWCD Fund total was $1,080,000 — the greatest amount raised in the history of unrestricted giving to the School. “We are deeply grateful to all members of the FWCD community for their ongoing and generous support of our School and want to recognize the tireless work of our Fund Chairs,” said Sandra Tuomey, Director of Advancement. “Thank you, all!”

Falcon students are the beneficiaries of The Fund and serve as the inspiration for the non-stop work of the chairs. As a side benefit, the four couples have developed deeper friendships with one another.

FWCD Fund Chairs for the 2021-22 year are April and Paul Bleich, who know they can count on support from the four couples and the Advancement Team.

Pam and Jamie Packer, 2017-18 Fund Chairs