Photo provided A group of Hope residents and students hold a prayer circle as part of the Students’ Fund of Hope fifth anniversary.
HOPE — The origin of the Students’ Fund of Hope is perhaps best described by a tagline the organization put on its fifth anniversary shirts: “It all started with an idea and a root beer float.”
The nonprofit recently threw itself a birthday party on Aug. 6, inviting the community to come to the town square for a free bash that featured a bounce house, balloon animals, a school supply giveaway, a prayer circle, and, of course, root beer floats.
Founder and president Whitney Budd said that it’s “overwhelming” and “humbling” to make it to this milestone.
“I knew that Hope was a place that saw their neighbor and could step in if families needed assistance, because I received it firsthand as a child here,” she said. “And so I knew that there were people here willing, able and more than happy to help, there just wasn’t that outlet. And so I knew that we could provide these resources to families, but I did not know that it could happen this quickly or just the generosity of such a small town become such a large thing.”
According to its website, the Students’ Fund of Hope works to ease the financial burden of students and families in the Flat Rock-Hawcreek School Corp. by providing for a variety of needs. These include lunch money, clothing, hygiene items, tragic event relief, food, shelter, utilities, counseling and abuse prevention curriculum.
The organization’s genesis dates back to the summer of 2018. At the time, Budd and her family were on the way home from a trip to Florida. She was telling her son that when they got back, it would be time to get him a backpack and lunchbox for kindergarten — and then something hit her.
“I had tunnel vision and just overwhelming sadness came over me, because as a kid, I had always felt some type of way by not being able to experience those things with my parents,” she said. “I had always made sure that someone had gotten these things for me … but it was typically not my parents, because we couldn’t afford it. So it was my first time as a mom, feeling so excited to go get these things for my children, and it hit me that my mom never had that.”
Budd immediately told her husband she wanted to start a root beer float stand and use the proceeds to help depleted lunch accounts.
She had expected to raise a couple of hundred dollars, but instead, the stand made $8,800 — in two hours. They were able to pay off $6,000’s worth of lunch account balances that had been headed to small claims court.
“My friend and I, Stephanie Long, she had figured out how to apply for an EIN (Employer Identification Number) and become a nonprofit,” Budd said. “And that way, when we donated those funds to the school, they could track them accordingly. But we had the extra money leftover, so then we just kept identifying needs. And it’s kind of snowballed since then.”
In looking to the future, Budd said that the organization is making five-year plans and has applied for grants in hopes of creating a transitional home for students and families that have become displaced or homeless.
Hotel stays are expensive, she said, and the Students’ Fund of Hope would like to provide stability so that students can continue attending local schools and access other resources from the organization.
It’s estimated that by the end of 2023, the Students’ Fund of Hope will have raised approximately $310,000 since its creation, Budd said.
“A lot of times, people chalk up the success of the Students’ Fund of Hope to myself, and that is so far from the case,” she said. “This is a group effort and namely, a community effort that has become the baby of so many here in our town. And without their donations and support, there’s just no way the fund would be what it is.”
