This is music to our ears.
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.
“We are incredibly grateful to the Vandalia-Butler Foundation for supporting our Morton Bands by providing tags, drumsticks, mouthpieces and a new gong, among many other things,” said band instructors Kirstyn Stapleton and Daniel Brinker.
“With over 300 students involved in band at Morton, this grant allows us to continue improving upon the amazing musical experiences happening here in the Vandalia-Butler City Schools,” they said. “We can’t wait to see all the success and growth from our students with this support.”
This grant fits the ART Fund’s mission. “We’re pleased to be able to offer our middle school students additional instruments as they prepare for future performances in Butler’s Performing Arts Theater,” said Jean Maychack-Ratliff, a Vandalia-Butler Foundation trustee who’s been involved with the ART Fund since its beginning.
In addition to this grant, Morton Middle School received a $2,000 VISIONS grant for glow-in-the-dark games and activities for physical education classes.
In all, the Vandalia-Butler Foundation awarded a record-breaking $31,314 in educational grants in 2025 for innovative classroom initiatives in the Vandalia-Butler City Schools.
For those wishing to make a contribution to the VISIONS Fund, tax-deductible donations can be mailed to VISIONS Fund, c/o The Dayton Foundation, 1401 S. Main St., Suite 100, Dayton, OH 45409-2600. To make an online donation, visit vandalia-butlerfoundation.org/visions.
The Vandalia-Butler Foundation is a component fund of The Dayton Foundation. Leadership for the Vandalia-Butler Foundation rests in our own community, while fiscal oversight of our funds is maintained by The Dayton Foundation, which serves the Dayton/Miami Valley area. This partnership allows for the Vandalia-Butler community to benefit from local leadership and profit from resources pooled with others for investment growth.
(Photo by Mary Stephens. Pictured left to right: Jean Maychack-Ratliff, Vandalia-Butler Foundation trustee; Kirstyn Stapleton and Daniel Brinker, band instructors; and Denise Eder, co-chair of the Vandalia-Butler Foundation.)