About Us
Mission Statement
The Cape Henlopen Educational Foundation (CHEF) seeks to inspire learning and to prepare all students for a healthy, productive life in a diverse and global society. To accomplish this, we seek to engage the entire community--educators, parents, business, civic and legislative leaders--in providing students with the tools they need to excel.
Our History
How CHEF Began...
In 1999, the Delaware Educational Foundation was formed as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization by all of the Sussex County school districts as a vehicle to raise funds for various educational initiatives.
In 2006, the organizational charter was amended to create the Cape Henlopen Educational Foundation (CHEF), serving only the schools in the Cape Henlopen School District (CHSD).
The original board was composed of ten members, mostly educators living within the school district region of Lewes, Rehoboth, and Milton. CHSD Superintendent George Stone supervised the effort and convened the group.
As stated in the minutes of the first board meeting in May 2007, the original goals of CHEF were to fund teacher grants; scholarships for future teachers, with a particular emphasis on encouraging minority teachers to apply to Cape schools; support for extracurricular activities like art, drama and athletics; and support for the superintendent's Honor Award program.
Since that time, CHEF's funding objectives have changed slightly, but the focus remains on providing resources which will help CHSD students excel and develop their full potential.
From 2007 to the present, CHEF has funded approximately 200 teacher grant requests totaling more than $250,000 in educational aid to CHSD schools, supporting anti-bullying and homeless programs, arts scholarships, career-focused initiatives and other activities.
Rick Grier-Reynolds is currently the president of CHEF and CHSD Superintendent Bob Fulton is a member of the CHEF board of directors.