2025 News
We bring your generosity to life.
The Business of Changing Lives
The Rizvi family’s belief in the power of education runs deep — and spans generations. Teri Rizvi, her two sons and her mother all graduated from Butler High School, representing three generations of Vandalia-Butler alumni. Education has always been central to their...
All for the Youth
The Vandalia-Butler Foundation has awarded $6,000 in discretionary grants to six organizations that enrich community life through the arts, education and youth development. The grants include: $1,250 to Vandalia Youth Theatre to help fund a Nov. 21-23 production of...
Hometown Support for Hometown Favorites
Two iconic family-owned restaurants — Christy’s Family Pizzeria and the Airline Dairy Creme — will each receive $1,500 from the Vandalia-Butler Foundation’s Small Business Opportunity Fund to support their continued service to the community. Keith Fields, whose family...
Teachers: Time to Apply for Grants
Calling all classroom teachers in the Vandalia-Butler City Schools! The Vandalia-Butler Foundation is now accepting applications for VISIONS and other educational grants for creative learning opportunities for students. The deadline is Dec. 7, but preference will be...
Honoring a Gentle, Unsung Hero
Lifelong educators Bob Suess and Barb Scholtz have created a new endowed scholarship through the Vandalia-Butler Foundation to honor Bob’s sister, Sally K. Owens, whose kindness and grace touched generations of students, staff and families. A 1976 Butler High School...
Grant Window Opens
From Vandalia Youth Theatre productions to the annual Oktoberfest to pre-game meals for the marching band during football season, the Vandalia-Butler Foundation supports worthy causes in the community through discretionary grants. In addition, the Foundation awards an...
Student Serves Up Logo
The Vandalia-Butler Foundation is proud to feature the artwork of Butler High School senior Kayden Beck in its inaugural pickleball marathon’s publicity campaign. Kayden designed the logo for the Sept. 26-27 "Paddle-Palooza" fundraiser by outfitting Vandalia Parks and...
Paddles Up!
Retired newspaper publisher and pickleball aficionado Frank L. Beeson has a vision. For 36 hours, pickleball players will fill the courts in Vandalia’s Helke Park for one unforgettable weekend in September. Some of the players will pitch tents and camp out. Others...
The Joy of Reading
Demmitt Elementary School teachers are inspiring a passion for reading in students — an effort the Vandalia-Butler Foundation supports through hundreds of book purchases. The school received a $1,500 VISIONS grant to replenish a book vending machine to reward students...
Bravo!
La Comedia Dinner Theatre’s stage became a classroom for children’s creativity and imagination when first graders from Demmitt Elementary School enjoyed an interactive performance of The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, a box lunch and a meet-and-greet with the...
Educational Earnings
Abbey Credit Union’s generosity is making a difference in Butler High School’s classrooms. The credit union’s $2,155 gift to the VISIONS Fund this year is supporting interactive learning in math classes by providing an iPad for real-time notetaking, which can be...
Supporting Tomorrow’s Alumni
The Vandalia-Butler Alumni Association (VBAA) is investing in the future of its alumni with a generous $1,541 gift to foster student success in the Vandalia-Butler City Schools. Thanks to the gift, Butler High School cooking classes will benefit from new cookware and...
Gong!
Thanks to a $1,538 grant from the ART (Arts Revitalizing Team) Fund, band students at Morton Middle School will receive a new gong and other band supplies.
Window to the World
Thanks to a generous $2,000 VISIONS grant from R.B. Jergens, third graders at Smith Intermediate School will be able to look at the world in a new way.
Vandalia Blacktop Fuels Innovation
Thanks to a $6,600 VISIONS grant from Vandalia Blacktop and Sealcoating, students in Butler High School’s industrial technology program will have access to a new, state-of-the-art tool to develop projects and prototypes as they learn manufacturing processes. “We are...
Supporting Tiny Aviators
Helke Early Learning Center has received $6,500 in grants from the Vandalia-Butler Foundation, primarily through its VISIONS Fund, to buy AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication) devices and new library books. “Minster Bank has been a supporter of Visions and...
Historic!
The Vandalia-Butler Foundation will award a record-breaking $31,314 in educational grants this year for innovative classroom initiatives in the Vandalia-Butler City Schools. The grants support more than a dozen initiatives, including band instruments, advanced...