2015-2016 Annual Report

A Message from Leon Weaver, President, Board of Trustees

First of all, I'd like to thank the Wooster School Board of Trustees for their confidence in selecting me as their new President. The Wooster Board of Trustees are an elected group of dedicated, generous individuals who care deeply about the Wooster School and no one demonstrates the traits of the Board better than my immediate predecessor as President, Jim Mustich. For more than a decade, Jim served on Wooster's Board of Trustees, the last seven years as it's highly regarded President. For his tireless work, the entire Wooster community owes him a debt of gratitude.

On behalf of the Board of Trustees, I'd also like to thank the parents of the Wooster School, not only for their generous support of last year's Annual Appeal and Gala but also for their faith, trust, and confidence they give to Wooster School by entrusting us with the awesome, yet, joyful responsibility of helping to educate their children. Our Annual Appeal is our most important fundraising effort of the year. This fund helps to finance our operating budget and sustain other programs. It is imperative that all members of the Wooster community participate in this endeavor as it demonstrates a tangible commitment to the school. I can report to you that the Annual Appeal campaign raised $563,709.92 and the Gala raised $162,517.96. In addition, other endowments and capital gifts totaled more than $498,614.56.

Philanthropy can be simply defined as the practice of donating one's money and time to help make life better for other people. The Wooster community has enthusiastically embraced this concept. But as the definition suggests, philanthropy consists of offering both treasure and priceless time to an endeavor. This generosity of spirit is best exemplified by the scores of volunteers who contribute tireless hours of their precious time to the Wooster School, including the Parents' Association, Gala Committee, and other fundraisers. One case in point is the Spring 2016 Gala, where nearly 40 committee volunteers led by the Parents' Association - Jodi Felton, Deb Ancona, Jessica Cunningham, La’Shone Fullerton, Didi Klepacz, and from Wooster – Avery Costigan, Lori Kriegel, Melissa Haas and Anne Gilson, helped to make that event possible. In addition, more than 220 members of the Wooster community attended the beautiful event.

It is tremendous work like this and with your help we can continue to make great progress to create the best school for your children. Thank you for your continued investment and commitment to our community.