266 Express
Welcome to the 266 Express, your official podcast of Sanger, TX.
In every episode, we paint a picture of life in this beautiful North Texas town.
You will gain insight into everything from our rich history, community events, and the rapid growth and development of Sanger. Welcome to the 266 Express.
266 Express
Celebrating Community Spirit: Valerie Foster on the upcoming Education Foundation Gala
Wondering how a community can come together to support local education while having a blast? We've got you covered with Executive Director Valerie Foster from the Sanger Education Foundation, sharing her insights on the much-anticipated Education Foundation gala. This event isn't just about raising funds; it's about celebrating collaboration and growth, with local businesses and community members joining forces to support the education sector. Valerie talks about the foundation's exciting expansion, a testament to the community's commitment, and how it has enhanced their ability to foster future leaders.
What's the secret to transforming sixth-grade students into ambassadors of local history? It's passion and creativity, which were on full display with the creation of a board game that took the community by storm. This episode honors the student's hard work and highlights the importance of community involvement, not just in terms of financial support but also in the invaluable contributions of time and effort from dedicated volunteers. These individuals are the backbone of events like the gala, ensuring they are engaging, successful, and impactful, with initiatives like community lunches further connecting Sanger's leaders with its future generation.
Get ready for a behind-the-scenes look at what makes the Education Foundation gala the event of the year. From the golden ticket raffle and unique travel opportunities to exclusive experience-based packages, Valerie gives us a sneak peek into what attendees can expect. This gala is more than just a fundraiser; it's a networking feast where community spirit takes center stage, and connections are made that propel Sanger's growth. We encourage anyone interested in being part of this vibrant atmosphere to secure their tickets fast, as they're selling out quickly. Join us as we celebrate the power of partnership in nurturing a thriving educational environment!
You have been listening to The 266 Express, the official podcast of Sanger, TX. IF you have comments or suggestions, please send them to dgreen@sangertexas.org
Welcome to the 266 Express. It's John Noblet with my co-host, donna Green. Donna, who do we have with us today?
Speaker 2:We have Valerie Foster. She is the Executive Director of the Sanger Education Foundation and she's here today to talk with us about the upcoming gala.
Speaker 1:Hi Valerie.
Speaker 3:Good morning, how are you?
Speaker 1:I'm good, it's so good to see you.
Speaker 3:It's good to see you. Thank you again for having me back to talk about the upcoming gala and the Sanger Education Foundation and all the wonderful things that are taking place.
Speaker 1:You guys have had a busy, busy year. What does the last year look like for you guys?
Speaker 3:It's been phenomenal. It's been a year of growth. We were constantly reevaluating things and we're in our new office and we absolutely love that. And we actually expanded into our office. We hired an executive assistant to come in and help out and we're able to expand our office. I think to some wonderful community partners that do some in-kind donations with furniture. Big shout out to Sanger Bank for donating some wonderful furniture for our new office.
Speaker 3:And it's been great, so wonderful partnerships, but it's just a testament to the growth in the community's interest in how can we support our schools and what can we do to help our students be more academically successful? So a lot of great things happening.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know you just rolled in. I know there's some top secret not so secret stuff that we're going through now that we'll talk about in the future. But all of these things take place, like you said, through the donations and the support you have of the community and the businesses here, and it culminates typically in your gala.
Speaker 3:It does. The gala is our one annual big fundraising event that we do, but it brings together our community, local business owners and our community supporters into one event that we can kind of showcase what we've done and accomplished through their support and just raise some extra unrestricted funds. The unrestricted funds help us run not only just the grant awards and teacher grants but also just to keep everything moving forward. So it's the one big event that we do on an annual basis and it has its own identity. It takes it on every year, so it's just a growing wonderful thing. Identity it takes it on every year, so it's just a growing wonderful thing. You know, it's just we've actually have had been doing the gala for several years now it's actually since we started and it just continues to grow.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so so can you tell us the history of the gala, how it how it has evolved over the years?
Speaker 3:Well, it does evolve every year because after each, after each gala, our committee comes together and we reevaluate it.
Speaker 3:You know what worked, what didn't work, what can we do different, because we always want to keep it fresh and exciting. So, you know, one of the things is that you know, we're just looking at different means of the way we can showcase without spending a whole lot of time, because we want people to have a good, you know fun, entertaining night, but showcase what they've actually accomplished and that is through, you know, spotlighting some of our teacher grants and spotlighting what the student achievements have been. So the history of it is we actually started in 2000,. I believe nine was our very first gala and we've had it every year, you know, ever since. Even through COVID, we were able to do a virtual spinoff of the gala. So we've always done it because we just feel it's just important for us to be in front of our supporters and bring our supporters together to actually see and hear from each other and also to see what the students have accomplished, because it's all about them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and when you're dealing with an organization such as the foundation, I'm sure consistency is key with all your events to make sure that you're in front of people as much as you can be.
Speaker 3:Well, we really try to limit how many events we do, but we're out in the community a lot because we don't want the community to say, oh there's the foundation, they're asking for financial support. It's not that your time is so much more valuable to us, just knowing what impact you can have and we leave it up to them. So we are out and about. But the gala has become our one signature event and again, we're constantly looking at how we can improve it, just from over the years and just keeping it fresh and exciting. And we really listen to what our supporters want. You know what they want, how they want the event to run.
Speaker 1:So is there a theme this year.
Speaker 3:Oh, we actually don't have a theme. We have a branding of the gala because the gala is its own identity and so the themes just really kind of gravitate about what's going on in our community and what our students really are needing to help them be, you know, taking their education to another level. So, and we kind of got away from the actual theme themes. But you know every student, you know your donation and supports, can you know changes the students, you know for their not only today but for tomorrow. But they're our future leaders. So I guess our theme is is focusing on what we can do today to help our students become our future leaders. What does our future look like?
Speaker 3:So that's kind of become our theme you know, just really solidifying your support today makes a difference, not just today, but for the future of our students.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you're right, the gala does have its own identity. It's funny not to take anything away from the foundation, but when we're talking about the community park downtown, the new downtown park that we're working on, part of those discussions with the warehouse were based on we would like to have an event space, because we don't really have one unless you go out of Sanger proper, and I cannot tell you how many times the foundation gala came up in those discussions, because we're like wouldn't it be great if the first event we can have in this when we're done is the foundation's event? You know where you can have the Sanger Education Foundation Gala in Sanger, in a beautiful community space that represents exactly what the foundation represents, which is strong communities through, you know, and we again I say it a million times through strong chambers, strong cities, strong schools.
Speaker 3:That's exactly right and we would be honored to be your first participant of that building I know we had talked about.
Speaker 3:Our board has, from day one, said we want to do as much business in support of our local communities as we possibly can, which is why our gala stays so close in the proximity.
Speaker 3:Our very first gala was out at McLean's RV and we loved that until they got ready to build on, and then we weren't able to use that facility, so we had to pivot and go, you know, find another location. During COVID downsizing we went out here, you know, to Clear Creek venue and was able to do the gala there. We rented a tent and had stuff outside, but we were able to spread out and take care of business that way. Intentionally, this year we're doing it at the Palazzo, which is just outside of Sanger, but as close as we could get, because we really our board feels very strongly support the businesses that support us and that is Sanger, and so we would love to be able to have the gala here and that is a challenge and you know to find a venue big enough to hold the gala and all the things that goes on with the gala.
Speaker 3:So when is the gala? The gala right now is scheduled for Friday, February the 21st, at the Palazzo on Rector Road. So it's coming up very quickly.
Speaker 1:What can attendees expect?
Speaker 3:We are going to have so many great activities and features and sources of entertainment. Just based on the feedback. We will always have our incredible dessert frenzy. If you've not been to the gala, the frenzy is exactly what it is. It is a dessert frenzy. It's an old-fashioned paper bid. The dessert's been donated by some of our most incredibly talented local bakers and there's a limited number of them, so not everybody's going to get a dessert and so it is a frenzy. You know, we want our dessert, we like those sweets, so we have that. It's coming back.
Speaker 3:We also have a key raffle sponsored by Sanger Insurance. We're going to have a Heads or Tails entertainment, which was hilarious last year. We have an extensive candy station sponsored by Sanger Bank and then new this year we're researching some really fun activities that are going to get everybody engaged and everybody has an opportunity to watch, just support and just be entertained with what's some of the things that we have going on. The event will also feature a new this year an exclusive sponsor reception. That we've never done before, but this is going to be pre-event. It'll be kind of an outdoor area that's going to have light hors d'oeuvres and be able to open up the auction areas early for about 50 of our sponsors.
Speaker 1:That's fantastic.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:It's going to be great, yeah. So how are funds raised during the gala and how are they allocated? What happens with them?
Speaker 3:We are very, very conservative on where our funds go. So 100% of the auction funds that we raise through the auction the live auction, the silent auction, the raffles goes back into teacher grants and student achievement academic enrichment programs. Our sponsors pay for the help us cover the cost of actually putting the event on. So we take we are very conservative with that but the funds they usually go back to through our grant application process where donors can give to certain programs that we have in place, whether that's career technology. They can give to scholarships if they choose to. They can help support that. But the majority of the funds goes back to teacher classroom academic grants and so through that auction you know we take great pride in being able to say 100% of that revenue because we work really hard behind the scenes to cover all of our costs of putting the event on through sponsorships. So that's what that fund goes to.
Speaker 1:If I wanted to sponsor an event or this event, how would I go about doing that?
Speaker 3:You can just contact the foundation office. We have areas that we know we want to help underwrite those the cost of having those games or things like that. So there's very specific. They run anywhere from $500 to, you know, $3,000. But it really does just cover the cost of having that sponsorship there and we give you complete recognition for that. That's an area sponsor that this business or person has covered so that we can make sure that the revenue we raise off of the you know, the auction items themselves goes back into those future grants to programs.
Speaker 2:So can you share a success story or highlight from a previous gala that demonstrates the impact on the Sanger community?
Speaker 3:So I'll give you one from last year and it was such a heartfelt donation. Our Gifted and Talent students researched, developed and donated a Sangeropoly game that they created. They did 3D printing, they researched the history behind what they wanted on that board game like your Monopoly game and so the students interviewed establishments, they went to various community leaders and got some history behind that and then they helped kind of create and they designed the board game. It was a huge success it was. The Sanger community was just. We were all just blown away by the depth of the research the students did. And then we got to go see the students and meet with them.
Speaker 3:I know Tona Betas and I went over there and the students actually started talking about it and to see the passion and the excitement and enthusiasm they had about did you know this happened on the Square and Sanger? Did you know we had this at Sanger Business at one time. Did you know the Chisholm Trail was out here. I mean just the knowledge that they gained and then the creativity that they all took on ownership of creating that board game with the 3D pieces laying out the board, the photography. It was just. It was incredible. And then we took it to auction and people came up and was like this is just phenomenal, one. We have students in our school district that are that took this project on and was able to create this, and this was a sixth grade campus that did this. So these aren't, these are just our kids, our students.
Speaker 3:The amount of funds and the excitement that was raised from that auction. Everybody was just completely taken back. And so, but being able to showcase Sanger that way, the community, and see those businesses on that board that make up Sanger, Right. I mean, it was just a phenomenal way. You know, I mean it was just a phenomenal way. But that's just one example of how the community of Sanger and our students and the foundation all came together to showcase our kids and what they can do.
Speaker 2:I remember that last year I wish you'd have had like 10 of them because everybody wanted it. It was that everybody wanted it. It was super cool. It was really really cool yeah.
Speaker 1:I told Don a bit on it for me I did.
Speaker 3:It was truly a highlight for everybody. I mean, it was just incredible.
Speaker 1:Well, I remember the students reaching out to the city for some information and some artwork and things. I thought, man, that is awesome, because a lot of times we hear from parents or some of those other people looking for the sponsorships for the bands and the things like that. It was the students reaching out, you know which was tremendous, I mean they they took it to a whole nother level.
Speaker 3:I mean, their questions were very precise. They, they, they had done their research so they knew what to ask. And then they created that little video for us to play at the gala for them. Just talk about that. And it just captured everybody's attention. But it also captured our heartstrings to go. This is our future, these are the kids that are going to lead us in days to come.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it feels good when you see that and kudos to the foundation and everybody that really takes the extra step to help make the quality of education and provide the resources the teachers need and the administration needs there to make the quality of education in Sanger top tier, because we do have a fabulous school district, I believe.
Speaker 3:We do.
Speaker 1:And it gets better year by year.
Speaker 3:It does.
Speaker 1:So, with the gala, what are some other things outside sponsorships that the community members or local businesses are able to do to help plan and execute the gala?
Speaker 3:We love our volunteers. So, in addition to if they want to sponsor or if they can't sponsor but they still want to contribute, somehow, come get involved. It takes a true village to create the gala. We start working on it immediately after the gala ends, we do a debriefing and then we go right back into gala preparation mode. So come volunteer. There's many areas that can volunteer, whether it's one hour here or if it's committee meetings. The development committee meets on a monthly basis. It's the first Wednesday of every month. They meet in conjunction with our marketing committee and we talk about the gala all the time.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And then there's the other events. You know the other event that we do, which is, you know, the lunch with the community leaders. Yeah, so, but yes, there's lots of ways. Sponsorships can be anywhere from $500 up to, you know, $5,000. There's something for everybody to be involved, but we never discount. In fact, to me, to us, the most important thing that we could ask for, and the most valuable thing we ask for, is not your financial support, it's your time. Yeah, because it really does. Everybody has a different perspective, everybody has a different talent. We want that, we need that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's invaluable. And I giggle a little bit because you know, we know we're talking about your signature event, but you mentioned, like the lunch with community leaders and everything else, and we know those may not be your signature events, but the foundation doesn't do anything in halves.
Speaker 3:Your events are always spectacular.
Speaker 1:They're well attended. You guys go the extra mile to make sure that you're getting information that is relevant to all the businesses and business leaders and citizens that will be at these events and giving you know the school and the city and everybody else an opportunity and a platform to deliver that that I mean that speaks volumes as to what your typical day must look like, because I don't know how you do it all.
Speaker 3:It's a team.
Speaker 3:It is a team and I am blessed to work with some really incredible talented people and we just feel very strongly if we just give you the information. Everybody has their priorities, you know, and you get to choose if you want to donate to any nonprofit or any organization. If we just tell you this is our story and it's not our story, this is our student's story, this is our community, and we feel blessed if you decide that that's where you want to contribute to. But we feel like very strongly, we owe it to you just to say here's who we are, here's what, what the needs of the community are, here's what our students needs are, and these are our future. This is our future.
Speaker 3:Um, you know, we will come and go, but our community will always be here and it's a direct reflection of who we are. So, um, we just feel blessed to be able to provide these two platforms. You know one is basically focused exclusively on students and what their needs are. And then the community. You know the Lunch with the Community Leaders is a time for the city and the school district to say here's what's in front of us, because if you don't know, you can't help.
Speaker 3:You can't be a part of the solution and we're blessed that we have two entities the city and the school districts. That's open to saying come be a part of us.
Speaker 2:So I know we had the wonderful Sanguropoli last year and I know that donations are starting to come in. You started to get those in, but do you know of anything unique this year that we can look forward to? Well, we're going to bring that golden ticket back, which was fun.
Speaker 3:Last year was the first year we did that, so it's a little raffle and you get to choose different trips that you want to take and there's some really unique opportunities in that. So far some of our donations have come in. We've had some wineries reach out to us and given exclusive behind-the-scenes tours of the winery and just packages of that. We've got some family entertainment packages that are starting to come together. We've got some unique shopping experiences. We've got some sporting activities with some new sponsors that are just outside of Sanger that have put together some incredibly sporting packages, which is kind of neat because there's still footprints in Sanger.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, they're just right here, and then we've got items that are coming in daily and I say daily, it's just fun. We are going to do some things a little different with our packages this year. We're going to create more experienced packages. So you might, you know, find a day in Dallas or a day in Fort Worth, or you might find a family entertainment package that might be 12 different items that you can do with your family throughout the year. So we're going to package things a little differently. But, yes, donations are starting to come in, which is very exciting and that's, you know, part of our. You guys have put Sanger on the map. I mean, people are going, you know, we want to be a part of the Sanger community. So we've got businesses actually reaching out to us from surrounding areas saying we want to be a part of this, which is kind of fun.
Speaker 1:That is exciting, yeah, and you know we talk about Sanger a lot because you know we're the city. But you know the footprint of the ISD is much larger than just the city limits of Sanger you know, 106 square miles.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So I mean, they're touching a lot of lives in a lot of communities, lot of lives in a lot of communities, and so, again, to have all the businesses reaching out, that is super exciting. The tickets for the gala this year if I wanted to get my hands on those, I know how to get my hands on them, but how would people get their hands on those tickets this year?
Speaker 3:You can reach directly out to the foundation office we're in the Wilfong Building in Suite 102, or you can go to our website, wwwsangereducationfoundationorg, and tickets will be available starting in January. But if you want to get on the list, I would tell you to get on the list because we have a limited amount of tickets of 280 this year. So I would say, get on the list.
Speaker 1:Yeah, get them while they're hot. For sure they will go fast for sure.
Speaker 2:So, in organizing the gala, what challenges do you typically face and how do you overcome them?
Speaker 3:Well, we just talked a little bit about one Again our attendance right now. This year we're going to cap it at 280. In the past we've tried to do 320. The venue is having a space large enough to accommodate that many guests moving around live auctions, silent auction, activities going on. We have North Texas Communications brings in a photo booth, so we have that activity going on. There's just a lot of activities but just finding a space large enough to handle that.
Speaker 3:Obviously, inflation, keeping our costs down and we negotiate, and then we go back to negotiate again to make sure that we are, you know, very good stewards of the funds that we have, because our goal is to get as much money available as possible for student programs and so we run a very, very physically tight budget.
Speaker 3:You know, some of the other things is that just to make sure that we're keeping it fresh. You know what worked last year, what do we need to kind of tweak, what can we change to make a little different? But, you know, because we don't want it to be the same gala over and over, I remember a couple years ago we had a guest come up from Austin was, you know, was a business that had a footprint here in Sanger and he drove in from austin and when he they left out they said you know we go to a lot of galas um across the state and this was fun. Yeah, and that's what we want, you know. We want it to be the fun, entertaining night of celebrating the success that you made possible, but also bringing everybody together and networking and getting to know that their passions and of education and what you know, what our students need.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean it is a networking event. I mean, if there's any event to be at, this is the place to be and be seen and interact, because that sphere of influence there is huge, because it is tied not just to the foundation of the school, it's tied to the community. Every year I'm excited to see, because sometimes that's the first time I see somebody that has brought a brand-new business in. You know, because on our end we may not be dealing with the business owner necessarily, or the management. You know we're dealing with development teams and I'd never fail. There's at least one first-timer at the event every year.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's an amazing event. I mean people who have not attended this event. It is definitely the place to meet your real community leaders, find out I mean, you can talk about what's going on in the city. Everybody that knows anything that's going on in the city is in that place at one time. So it is.
Speaker 1:Plug in, plug into it for sure. What would you tell a first timer?
Speaker 3:We're comfortable shoes. Yeah we're comfortable shoes. Yeah, um, I would say I mean the first time, or just to come and just take it all in um and just have a great. I mean just join in um.
Speaker 3:Everybody there has a interest in not just the sanger community but in our school district and we all realize that without a great school district and our students being successful, we're not a great community. I mean that you know when people come into Sanger how are the schools, you know what's the neighborhoods like, so just being able just come in and just take it in, join in the activities, get to know your fellow table mates and just take it. I mean within the foundation. I mean it takes a while to understand the true scope of what the foundation does, because it's not just giving out teacher grants or scholarships. There's so much more that the foundation does to help individuals leave a legacy and a perpetual footprint in the community of Sanger, because we have endowments and we recognize those families who have made that financial investment for the perpetuity to make sure that the history of a program is always reflected in our school district, even if the school district says you know what, we can't fund this anymore. Well, through that gift we can continue on to have students have that opportunity.
Speaker 3:And as a rural school district and it has evolved and grows because it becomes more urban you do lose some of those programs that historically have been here Historic scholarships. You know individuals that have had a footprint in Sanger before, so you hear a lot. You learn about that through the foundation. At the gala we kind of talk about that. We give people an opportunity to learn that we help preserve that heritage. I would say first-timers, it is a blast and, like you said, you do get to meet a lot of businesses. I would say probably 90% of the attendees are business owners here in Sanger or have a footprint, you know some kind of touch in Sanger.
Speaker 3:They might have their business outside of Sanger but they live in Sanger or they may have their. You know they live here and work elsewhere, but I mean it's just they have a footprint here and so you're networking with fellow like-minded individuals that are successful and are building. You know wanting to seek, sing or grow, but again it's back to our kids.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So besides the gala I mean, the gala is your big fundraising event for the year but there's other ways that people can support the Education Foundation year-round. So what are some of those ways and how do they work?
Speaker 3:year-round. So what are some of those ways and how do they work? Volunteer we have six subcommittees throughout the foundation and we have a board of directors and our board of directors comes from our subcommittees. So we are constantly looking for, you know, talented individuals to serve in some capacity, whether it's on our admin committee, our investment committee, our marketing committee, our programs committee, our development committee, our marketing committee, our programs committee, our development committee, or even an advisory capacity. So there's always and again, to me that's the most valuable thing somebody could give is their time, and we're very respectful for that. And those committees all meet differently. So if any of that interests you, give us a call and we'll try to plug in where you think your talent, you know, is at and where we can, you can help us out.
Speaker 3:And then we have the lunch with the community leaders that's usually held in the, you know, summertime, about early fall. We consolidate that. We used to have two events and we consolidated it into one, which was phenomenal last year, and so we'll continue to do that. And then our gala. But there's other ways that you can come out and help us. We do a grant patrol every year that we fill up a couple school buses with individuals and we go out and totally disrupt the schools and surprise teachers with some big checks and get to see those programs go. And then we do evaluations throughout the year where we go back to the campuses and actually see the programs in place. Today we were out doing some tours of some new programs that might physically come about. You alluded to that. We've got some things in the works that we really can't disclose quite yet, but there's some very exciting partnerships that are taking place to help our kids take their education to the next level in partnership with the school district. So there's a place for somebody.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, we find that everybody that wants to be involved can be involved and the people that are involved are very serious about what they are bringing to the table long term. Because, you're right, 90% of the time the first question I am asked when somebody's looking at sanger is how are the schools? You know, and that's not an exaggeration uh, you know, because we, we are seeing more young families, uh, moving in into the area and their priority is typically is my child going to be taken care of? What kind of education are they going to get? Are they, is the school safe? Are they, you know, and all of these things? Are they going to have the same opportunities as wherever we may have moved from, as far as educationally or vocationally? And it seems like, again, every year, the school is getting better and better and more prepared to meet those challenges and answer those questions.
Speaker 3:You're exactly right and I can't speak on behalf of the school district, but I will tell you that the current administration is very much looking in the future. They know what they have and they know that growth is coming. Know what they have and they know that growth is coming and they're really preparing to make sure that we can, they can address the growth, but that we don't just address the growth but we have quality, strong programs that will take our students to the next level. And that's the advantage of where we're at as a community. You know, because you guys have been able to somewhat control the growth. We know the growth's coming. We've got time to prepare and that takes time, I mean you know. But so you know the school district has really been proactive. You know we've got a new high school growing. You know they just built on to some of our current campuses to accommodate the growth. We know that there's going to have to be some more growth coming. You know more. You know campuses being built, growth coming. You know more. You know campuses being built.
Speaker 3:And then you know they're really looking at. We are a working community and so you know getting our students those career and technology programs, they have made that a priority In addition to partnering or complementing just basic education, just making sure our students are prepared. If they choose to go to college, they've got that background. If they choose to go in the workforce, they have those skills set. So you know the school district it's a partnership.
Speaker 3:We all have said that Our board president talks about that. We're a three-legged stool. We've got the city, you know the Sanger community, we've got the school district and we've got the foundation All and we've got the foundation. All coming together, we have a strong foundation for our kids.
Speaker 1:Again, you all do an outstanding job and we understand that the foundation is a support mechanism to the school. It's not the school and so, again, your challenges are very different in the volunteer base and the financial base. So, again, if somebody wanted to contact you guys, I'd give you another opportunity to give addresses, phone numbers, websites where they would make donations, where they buy tables, where they buy tickets, where they could volunteer. Could you give those to us again?
Speaker 3:I sure can. We're at 400 Bolivar Street in the Wilfong Building, suite 102. So you walk in. We're just right there, to your right on the first floor. You can contact us at the foundation's website, wwwsangereducationfoundationorg, or you can give us a call at 940-600-8890. It's a mobile phone, I have it with me all the time. But again, we would love to have you involved with us, either in a volunteer capacity, attend one of our events, or just come by and just check out what we're doing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so call her quickly to get on the list for those tickets for the gala because I know they're going quick this year. They were gone last year and you have a little less this year, so we're going to go even quicker.
Speaker 1:Open to the door in January. Events in February. That's right.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, sir, so we thank you so much.
Speaker 3:Well, thank you again for the opportunity coming back and talking about our gala and I just can't thank you enough for the partnership that we get to run besides you with the city. You guys are one of our favorite partners and you know it's a team effort, you know, to know what's going on with the city and how we can better position for that growth and handle that. So thank you for the opportunity to come back.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you. It's what makes a community right.
Speaker 3:It is.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you so much. I'm John Noblet.
Speaker 2:I'm Donna Green.
Speaker 1:We appreciate you listening to what's going on in our small little North Texas Town.