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LVEF spans gap between school budget and program needs

Twenty years ago the families of two Lab employees, Bill Dunlop and David Conrad, faced a challenge: School budget cuts gutted many of the music and sports programs that their kids participated in and loved. What to do?

Dunlop and Conrad decided to lead the way and work to span the difference between what the school budget was able to fund and what the programs needed to continue. That's how the Livermore Valley Education Foundation (LVEF), one of the agencies listed in the HOME Campaign, was founded.

"The Lab has been a fundamental force in funding the foundation and providing leadership," said Jim Hammer, Lab employee and former vice president of the foundation. "My three kids directly benefited from the foundation's contributions to the school system."

LVEF is still standing up for the school kids. During the past three years, $34.5 million in budget cuts have slashed district programs.  The LVEF can't make up that shortfall, but the $3 million it has contributed during the last twenty years has helped preserve sports programs, music and arts education, scholarships, crisis counselors, librarians and more.

LVEF's annual fundraising campaign is called The Straight A's Campaign and this year's drive has a goal of raising $300,000 to support 2012 - 2013 programs in the Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District. And as it has become customary, the Lab's HOME campaign may be responsible for a significant portion of that contribution.

For information on the LVEF, go the LVEF Website.  To donate to the HOME Campaign, go to the HOME Website.