The Liberty Learning Foundation provides civic-engagement programs, Hands on Liberty and Super Citizen, to help schools teach crucial lessons in civics, character, financial literacy and social studies despite school budget cuts. We strive to change the lives of individual students by empowering them to become informed independent thinkers who are motivated to improve their communities.
Marengo
Marengo County Safety Day
Marengo County Extension Office host a one day Safety Day for all of the 3rd graders (325) in Marengo County. This educational program provides training and resources for local communities to conduct safety and healthy training programs. Safety Day is designed to be age-appropriate, hands-on, fun and safe for children. The students will visit nineteen different stations. Some of the stations are atv safety, sun safety, knife safety and bicycle safety. These sessions are conducted outside in May and we need to provide adequate shade out of the hot weather for our presenters and our third graders.
Amelia Love Johnson High School New Baseball/Softball Field
The purpose of this project was to provide the funding to purchase the equipment needed to provide the foundation for a new baseball and softball field and teams at ALJHS. The funding has helped us get the foundation started as documented by the invoices and cancelled checks that shows that we were able to purchase baseball uniforms, catcher protection equipment for the the boys and girls, bases and a home plate, bats, catcher gloves, practice baseballs, a pitcher safety screen, and aluminum bleachers for the actual field. We will receive in-kind donations of the necessary dirt and labor to prepare the field for play. We anticipate starting our first teams during the 2018-19 school year. The grant has provided ALJHS the needed funding to start these extra-curricula activities that will boost the school-spirit of the entire school. We anticipate new students enrolling in our school as a result of these additional sports opportunities.
Jefferson Community Club Kitchen Renovation
Jefferson Community Club’s kitchen was in desperate need of repairs and upgrades to continue to accommodate the many functions that take place at the facility throughout the year. In fact, outlining a time frame for construction posed a challenge because of the growing number of events on the calendar. We planned for many months, fine-tuned our budget, and made preparations for essentially gutting the small kitchen to replace its materials and fixtures with commercial food service grade furnishings that would allow for better traffic flow, functionality, energy efficiency, and a clean, safe work space. After those months of planning, we completed the work of the project from demolition to completion in less than two weeks, with the commitment of approximately 10 volunteers who gave nearly 300 hours of community service. The construction and repair work includes demolition, replacing rotting floors with new plywood and overlay of roll vinyl, removal of old bowed paneling, addition of insulation and new wall sheathing, updated and upgraded electrical outlets and plumbing, refinished ceiling, installation of fiberglass reinforced panels on the wall, and approximately 40′ of stainless work tables and double sink. The outdated and out of service appliances have been replaced with energy efficient models that match the clean commercial design of the kitchen.
In the past, this kitchen was a tight space for sometimes upward of 15 individuals working in the kitchen at large scale events like barbecues, and old features and installations did not accommodate this level of service volunteers. With the new design and new fixtures, the kitchen offers more work space, more floor space, and an easy-to-maintain facility that is expected to last many years to come. This project’s greatest assets have been financial support from ALA-TOM RC&D and volunteer service from members of the community.