H-L board accepts donation for batting cage building

At the Hopewell-Loudon Board of Education meeting on Wednesday, the board accepted a donation of nearly $8,000 for a batting cage building from the Benevity Community Impact Fund (BCIF). The board has been accepting batting cage building donations for several months now, but this was the largest donation of the month. The only other April donation was $250 from SanGregory Cartage, Inc. So far, Hopewell-Loudon has raised over $20,000 towards the batting cage building, which will benefit both the baseball and softball teams. BCIF is a corporate giving platform that connects more than 650 Fortune 1000 companies with charities and nonprofits worldwide. Hopewell-Loudon received a donation because a company or employee using the platform chose to support their initiative. The platform also supports volunteering and grantmaking opportunities. Besides the hefty batting cage donations, the board approved last month's minutes and financial statements and had first readings for 20 policy revisions, as well as one new policy involving technical corrections. The board approved College Credit Plus agreements with Terra State and Tiffin University, as well as a Leader In Me agreement between the elementary school and Franklin Covey Client Sales, Inc. The $16,530 contract provides students with career, life, and social readiness skills and resources, and the program has a 34% increase rate of positive social-emotional behaviors. Finally, the board recognized several students, including Chieftain team members Wyatt Reinhart, Judah Risner, Joshua Huffman, and Patrick Heckler, as well as girls' basketball players MaKayla Elmore and Olivia Zender. Correction added on 4/16: The donations are for a full batting cage building for both the baseball and softball teams.