RADFORD — The Radford City Schools Partners for Excellence Foundation has received approximately $5,000 in building supplies for restoration of the Arnheim home.
The 2015 Local Heroes Grant from Lowes Home Improvement in Fairlawn is awarded annually to local groups performing community work in the region.
Lee Slusher, the executive director of the Radford City Schools Partners for Excellence Foundation, said she was grateful for Lowe’s contribution to their mission.
“It’s important to recognize Lowes for what they are doing in this town. It’s awesome. We are grateful to have businesses in the community that care about our schools,” praised Slusher.
The supplies were picked out by the foundation to help with one of their latest projects, restoring their headquarters, the historic Arnheim home next to Radford High School. The former plantation home was built between 1838 and 1840.
The Radford Heritage Foundation gave the home to the foundation a few years ago; and since then, they been working to get the Civil War-era home fit for occupancy.
Restoring the home has been at the forefront of their mission since the foundation’s inception in 2013. According to Slusher, the Arnheim home will serve a variety of purposes.
The kitchen will be an area that allows culinary students to cook for audiences to gain “real life experiences,” said Slusher, which is something they cannot currently do at the school’s classroom facilities. Also, the building will host history presentations, art shows, choral events and have an international studies center in the upstairs part of the facility.
Additionally, Slusher said that the home will be able to host events and other fundraisers, creating another source of revenue for the foundation to use for future projects.
Thomas Holsinger, the store manager for the Lowes in Fairlawn, new about the local non-profit whose goal is to “support and enhance the educational experience of the Radford City School’s students through business and individual partnerships,” according to the mission statement on their website.
“I was excited about the project and what it would mean for Radford City Schools. I talked to the associates of the store and they agreed this was a worthy project,” stated Holsinger in an email. “I know all the different supplies we donated to the project will benefit Radford City Schools Partners for Excellence project now and for the future.”
Some of the other notable projects the foundation is working on include funding for new boys and girls locker rooms at the high school, purchasing new Chromebook laptops for students and funding study abroad programs.
“We want to help the schools afford things that they don’t necessary have the funds for,” said Slusher.
Although the building supplies that were donated by Lowes are a big help to completing the restoration of the Arnheim home, funds are still needed to help finish the project.
To make a donation to the foundation, checks can be mailed to Radford City Schools Partners for Excellence Foundation, Inc., P.O. Box 355, Radford, Virginia 24143, or online at radfordcity.revtrak.net.
To learn more about some of the projects, visit www.rcps.org, then click on “Community” and “Educational Foundation.”
Email school and community news ideas to communitynews@ourvalley.org.