Fairmount Minerals donates $16,000 to Colfax schools
COLFAX — The Fairmount Minerals Foundation has donated $16,000 to Colfax Elementary and Colfax Middle School.
The donation will be used to purchase Promethean Boards (SMART BOARDS) for five classrooms.
The smart boards will allow teachers to bring their classrooms up-to-date current events, map exploration, interactive student activities, and student presentations.
“This grant will help our students to become more independent with new technology, (used) in a responsible way to increase academic achievement,” said Colfax Elementary/Middle School Principal, Trevor Hovde.
Wisconsin Industrial Sand is a subsidiary of Fairmount Minerals and operates a mine on state Highways 12/29 on the east side of Menomonie.
Wisconsin Industrial Sand recently handed out more than $176,000 to schools located throughout Dunn, Pierce, Pepin, and Barron counties.
Other donations granted by Fairmount Minerals in this region included $15,000 to four different school districts for sustainability services and expanding the use of their school forests; $17,000 to the Durand School District for their after-school Academic Support Program; and more than $19,000 to the Plum City School District for new computers and climate control equipment for their server room.
Grants to Boyceville Middle/High School, Downsville Elementary School, Ellsworth Senior High School, Prairie View Elementary School, School District of Prairie Farm, Spring Valley Elementary and Middle/High Schools, and St. Francis School, supported everything from academic programs, to technology and capital improvements.
Wisconsin Industrial Sand, and its parent company, Fairmount Minerals, supply sand to the Cardinal Glass Menomonie location as well as to the oil and gas industry. Wages, benefits, and secondary employment from the Menomonie sand mine add $2.4 million annually to the Dunn County region’s economy.
In 2012, Wisconsin Industrial Sand donated over $257,000 to local non-profit organizations.
Menomonie employees volunteered more than 735 hours within the community in 2012, working on projects such as the clean-up of the Rush River, Adopt-A-Highway, and stocking shelves at local food pantries.