Almost a year after Northwestern students spent 30 hours dancing at 2003’s Dance Marathon, Evanston’s budding comic-book scene is reaping the benefits of their sore feet.
Two weeks ago, Weinberg freshman Aaron Hobson animated “The Ghost Tiger-Dog” — a comic-book tale of a Kool-Aid-sucking zombie — written and developed by a Dewey Elementary School student.
The two began collaborating when they met as part of Project SOAR, a mentoring program run by the McGaw YMCA that pairs about 60 NU students with Evanston elementary- and middle-school students who are in need of a mentor.
Last year, Project SOAR received a $7,800 grant from the Evanston Community Foundation to support the program’s literacy initiative, which aims to tackle literacy problems in unconventional ways. And DM helped make it possible.
ECF Executive Director Sara Schastok, a former NU dean, said she takes pride in the bridges that the organization is able to build in the community. She said the best way to do that is to distribute money to an array of groups.
“We fund everything from arts and culture through human services,” she said. “We are looking for things that are innovative, projects that might set a model. We are looking for these new people.”
And DM funding is aiding the search.
Beginning in 1998, DM made ECF a secondary beneficiary. Since 2000, DM has given ECF 7.5 percent of its funds annually. Schastok said the entirety of DM’s money is distributed in grants.
“We have a lot of respect and admiration for Dance Marathon,” Schastok said. “The co-chairs of DM are full voting representatives on the Foundation’s grant committee.”
Dance Marathon co-chairman Justin Ballheim said DM donates money because ECF supports diverse projects in the community.
“I would like to see the money go towards projects that the Evanston community really needs,” he said. “We’re really excited that we can bring Evanston and Northwestern communities together in the spirit of philanthropy.”
Project SOAR grant director Sara Flax convinced ECF’s grant committee of the literacy initiative’s merits last year.
“(Students) have problems in literacy that we don’t believe are best solved by more school,” Flax said. “Sitting them down in more classrooms isn’t going to make them improve their reading or their writing or their oral communication.”
Although Hobson said his Project SOAR “little brother” already has superb reading and communication skills, he said writing the comic book was a perfect opportunity for reinforcement.
Flax said she believes such indirect, activity-based reinforcements will increase student comfort with reading and writing.
“ECF likes the program because of who in the community it affects and in what way it affects them,” she said. “Many of our referrals come from schools, because they believe (in Project SOAR) and they think it’s beneficial.”
The United Way of Evanston founded ECF in 1986 to provide grants to budding social organizations. Since then the foundation’s endowment has grown to more than $3 million, and it distributes 5 percent of its endowment annually.
“A community foundation is all about building a permanent base of assets,” Schastok said. “Over time, if it’s well invested, it’s going to grow. It’s a permanent source of charitable capital.”
Individuals and community groups also can donate money to ECF and set up their own charitable funds.
ECF will accept applications for 2004 funding until Feb. 17. It will award grants in the spring.