T-minus 3 Months to the 3rd Semi-Annual Evening to Empower

This year’s Brandon Foundation Evening to Empower Dinner and Auction is less than 3 months away! The night will include a performance by our scholars, musical entertainment, a live painting by a local artist, and a live and silent auction. All of this and more will take place on Saturday, May 19^th at the Walb International Ballroom on the campus of Purdue Fort Wayne. Our goal is to raise $50,000. The planning is well under way, and we need YOUR help to make the evening a success! We are looking for sponsors, in kind contributions and dinner guests.

Sponsorship Levels:

• $2,500 - Dinner Sponsor
• $1,000 - Entertainment Sponsor
• $750 - Vision Board Display Sponsor
• $500 - Table Sponsor

To show our gratitude for these sponsorships, your company, organization, or family name will be displayed during the event, inside the program, and on our website so all attendees will recognize your valued contribution and commitment to our students’ futures. Here is a full look at the added benefits of becoming a sponsor:

Of course, we invite you to attend and encourage you to bring guests. We would love to celebrate The Brandon Foundation’s success with you! Because of the constant support of our donors, it is possible for the children of The Brandon Foundation to continue to grow, pursue opportunities, participate in extracurricular programs, earn scholarships, and develop as future community leaders.

We appreciate your consideration. Any donation in support of The Brandon Foundation will be well-received; no gift is too small. Donations may be mailed directly to The Brandon Foundation. If you have an item that needs to be picked up, please contact The Brandon Foundation’s to make arrangements. You can call (260) 579-7783 or email brandonfoundation@hotmail.com. For more information, to donate, or to purchase tickets, please visit: https://goo.gl/1UzgFx .

Early bird ticket sales end March 1^st; that’s only 1 week away! Make sure you grab yours!

We hope to see you soon!

Thank you for reading!

Abby Bormann & The Brandon Foundation

What is a leader? - Civic Engagement

How do you define the word leader or decide that one person is a leader, and another is not? There are leaders by title only. There are people in decision making roles who make choices only for themselves. There are also those who lead from anywhere, no matter the title, time or place (or age). One characteristic of a great leader is that they always have in mind the needs of others, with a mind and a heart for service.

Recently, The Brandon Foundation scholars have been learning that you’re never too young to be an advocate and an activist in your community. The conversation began with talking about big issues in the southeast Fort Wayne community and in cities around the country. The scholars discussed redlining, microaggressions, and police shootings and other topics. Next, they began to think about what in their own communities they want to change. A few key things that came up were: improving parks, making neighborhoods safer, and having more options for groceries.

In order to work towards taking action on community improvement, the students narrowed down their ideas to one park in particular, very close to where two TBF students live, that is in great need of updating and some tender loving care. Our scholars are meeting with the neighborhood association and the church that owns the property and are in the process of formulating a plan, including developing a budget. The students are learning that they too can make changes in the community, if they choose to live to help others.

Look out for updates in the coming months on this project! I can’t wait to see what our scholars accomplish!

Thank you for reading!

Abby Bormann & The Brandon Foundation

‘Tis the Season…

      …to be thankful! Last Thursday was Thanksgiving, the beginning of the holiday season and the perfect time to meditate on the many blessings of this life. Here are a few of our favorite things that The Brandon Foundation is extremely grateful for.

• Our loving God who sent His Son to Earth to save us
• Miss Caty, our fearless leader
• Our scholars for choosing to become Christian leaders of their community
• Aaliyah, Auntral, Darrell, DeAundre, Deijah, DJ, Edyn, Elijah, Ethann, Isaiah, Josh, Malakhi, Medina, Noel, Saphia and Shawnn Michael
• Our mentors
• The parents and loved ones of our scholars who guide them in their daily lives
• Our Board of Directors
• Our Corporate Sponsors
• BKD: CPAs & Advisors, Fox Contractors  Corp, Lawrence Building Company, Lee’s Famous Recipe Chicken, Northside Plumbing & Heating, Sweeney Law Firm
• Schools and teachers who help us to learn and grow every day
• Donors, supporters, and volunteers who make The Brandon Foundation possible
• The opportunity to apply to grants and for those that provide them
• 3Rivers Federal Credit Union and RMSM Foundation
• Speakers and guests who lead many fun activities at The B Foundation
• St. Henry’s Community Center
• Prayer circle
• Snack time
• Recess and playing with friends
• Books and the abilities to learn and read
• Our hometown and community, Fort Wayne
• The gifts and talents that God has blessed us with
• The many local churches that families of The Brandon Foundation attend
• Summer camps and sports programs, along with the new friendships and adventures they bring
• The seasons and the beautiful changes of nature
• The holidays and the time we spend together with family and friends
• The opportunity to serve our community through volunteer work
• The St. Francis football players who mentor our scholars
• The opportunity to explore our interests and Deijah’s day of shadowing at the prosecutor’s office
• Learning about kindness and gratitude
• Journaling and the opportunity for reflection
• The Colts and Pacers and those who donated tickets so that our scholars could attend games
• The 5^th year of The Brandon Foundation
• All of our #GivingTuesday donors

      What are you most thankful for this holiday season?

      Thank you for reading!

      Abby Bormann & The Brandon Foundation

Coming Soon: An Evening to Empower 2018

Every two years in May, The Brandon Foundation hosts An Evening to Empower, dinner and auction, to increase awareness and support for the growing needs of underserved children in the Fort Wayne community. During this event, we take time to recognize and celebrate the accomplishments of our students.  This is also an evening to show our gratitude and appreciation for our corporate and individual sponsors, volunteers, parents and the countless others who have made our mission possible. It takes a whole community to show students the power of their potential socially and academically.

WHAT: An Evening to Empower, The Brandon Foundation’s 3^rd dinner and auction fundraising event

WHEN: Saturday, May 19^th, 2018

WHERE: IPFW’s Walb International Ballroom

WHO: We would like YOU to be part of the 2018 Evening to Empower to support and celebrate The Brandon Foundation and our students. Share the excitement with some friends while you’re at it!

If you would like to become an event sponsor, make an in kind donation, or purchase a table, please email Rebecca Bormann, President of the Board of Directors, at rebeccab262@gmail.com. You can also contact Rebecca if you would like to be a part of the planning committee.

We're still in the early planning phases, but we’ll have more details in the coming months!

Hope to see you there!

Abby Bormann & The Brandon Foundation

Creating a Climate of Kindness

What would the world look like if instead of meanness, inconsideration and violence there was only kindness, compassion and thoughtfulness? We’re far from that place right now, but there are people all over the world looking to make a change. One such group created a competition, or as they like to say a “coopetition” (a cooperative competition). It’s called the Compassion Games: Survival of the Kindest, and The Brandon Foundation is jumping in during the month of October.

Here’s how it works:

1. Individuals or teams sign up here.

2. Participants organize service projects, inspire and perform acts of kindness and focus on giving back to their community.

3. After completing acts of kindness, participants report on their activities, and the Compassion Report Map tracks all of the details.

4. Share and celebrate to start a chain reaction of kindness in the community!

The goal of the compassion games is to unify communities, amplify kind works that are already happening, catalyze community engagement, quantify experiences and impact, and actualize to grow the movement!

For now, our scholars will be observing their local community and how they might make a change with acts of kindness. After fall break, the game is on! I can’t wait to hear how it goes!

Check out how the Compassion Games have started to make a difference in other communities! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZLGHZ1lSjU

By the way, we're in the early stages of planning for the 2018 Dinner & Auction, and we're looking for sponsors. If you'd like to contribute or have any questions, please contact Rebecca Bormann at rebeccab262@gmail.com.

Thank you for reading!

Abby Bormann & The Brandon Foundation

A “Summery” of the Sunshine Season

The Brandon Foundation’s 5^th school year will be starting in just a few short weeks. Where does the time go?! Scholars, mentors and our board members have all been busy this summer. Read on for a peak at what we’ve been up to!

Some of our scholars went to summer camps. Medina, Aaliyah, and Edyn attended a new camp this year, Camp Jameson in Indianapolis. They swam, went on adventures and had a fun-filled week meeting new friends. DJ and Deaundre developed their hoop skills at McCracken Basketball Camp. The 55 year old organization emphasizes fun and helps each player to become the best athlete that he or she can possibly be! While DJ and Deaundre were out on the courts, Josh played football with Midwest Swagger Football Camp.

Our scholars are quickly maturing and becoming community leaders! Dejiah, who will be starting her junior year of high school in the coming weeks, had a job this summer at a local daycare. There, she was able to put into practice the skills that she developed as a junior mentor to one of our younger scholars during the 2016-17 school year. She also had a wonderful opportunity to shadow in the Fort Wayne prosecutor’s office and has been invited to return next summer for a full internship!

We also walked in the Three Rivers Festival Parade, for the fifth consecutive year. Every year, our group in the parade gets a little bigger. This year, 40 people walked with The Brandon Foundation float! There were scholars, mentors, board members and lots of family out supporting us. The theme for the parade was SUPERHEROES! Miss Caty designed our t-shirts this year and reminded us all that “not all superheroes wear capes.”  Ordinary people, following in Jesus’ ways, can save the world one kind, loving action at a time.

We can’t wait to see what’s in store for the 2017-2018 school year!

Thank you for reading!

Abby Bormann & The Brandon Foundation

We're Almost There!

It’s mid-May; summer is on the horizon! This time of year, two big things are happening for The Brandon Foundation. The school year (and weekly TBF sessions) is wrapping up, and our fundraising campaign is drawing to a close. In case you were wondering what’s up on these fronts, here’s a little update:

Last week at the foundation, our scholars created scrapbooks to remember their favorite and proudest moments of the year and to remember what they’ve learned. Here are few pages from their year.

In other news, we have just over a week until the end of our fundraising campaign. We’re off to a great start with over $20,000 dollars raised. Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, for all of your support from individual donors to corporate sponsors! Your contributions are helping our scholars’ dreams come true. That’s why at The Brandon Foundation you’re known as a Dream Maker. We know that there are many incredible organizations to donate money and time to and appreciate each and every contribution! Below are our corporate sponsors and some of our top donors that we want to say an extra special thank you to!

AIS Consulting

BKD – CPAs & Advisors

The Kuzmic Family

Lawrence Building

RMSM Foundation

Sweeney Law Firm

Three Rivers Federal Credit Union

Please prayerfully consider making a contribution, if you have not already done so, to help us reach our goal of $30,000 in support of our scholars for the next school year!

Thank you for reading!

Abby Bormann & The Brandon Foundation