Another $1 million donation amid ‘all of this mess’ shows Wichitans care about others

Within days of the Fundamental Learning Center announcing the public phase of its $20 million capital campaign for a new school, COVID-19 shut down Wichita and an economic crash followed.

“It was sort of this horrific wave of, wow, where are we going to end up on the other side of this?” said Jennifer Remsberg, the center’s director of marketing and communications.

Critically, the school, which teaches children with dyslexia and their educators, needs to raise $5.83 million by Jan. 14, 2021, to receive a $2 million challenge grant from the Mabee Foundation for the future school at the northeast corner of 143rd and Central.

The center is now $1 million closer to that goal thanks to a donation from supporter Dee Rolph, who helped start the Rolph Literacy Academy at the school in memory of her late husband, Darrel, who had dyslexia but achieved business success by co-founding Wichita’s Sasnak Management — now known as Thrive Restaurant Group.

“I really wanted to leave a legacy for him,” Rolph said.

She’s given major donations to the center previously, such as a $2 million gift that helped it move from Parklane to its current space at 2220 E. 21st St., but the CARES Act prompted Rolph to give again.

Her financial advisor explained that the act, which is helping with coronavirus relief in myriad ways, allows donors to have all of their cash contributions be deductible instead of the customary 60 percent.

“So I thought, oh, why not take advantage of that?” Rolph said. “I was kind of inspired to do the additional amount of money.”

That puts the center at $2.1 million toward the amount it needs to raise for the grant.

“It was like, holy cow,” Remsberg said.

She said Rolph’s donation came on top of donations that others made to make up for the cancellation of the center’s annual garden party, which is its largest fundraiser of the year.

“We were sort of astonished and stunned by the generosity,” Remsberg said of all the giving. “In the middle of all of this mess, people are still thinking about the bigger picture. They’re thinking about the greater good.”

Donating to a legacy

Jeanine Phillips, the center’s co-founder and executive director, remembers meeting Darrel Rolph for the first time.

His sister, Darlene Knorr, is a longtime board member at the center and introduced Phillips to the Rolphs.

Phillips said as Darrel Rolph talked about his first job as a teacher, he practically jumped out of his chair with animation for the love he had for teaching and coaching. Then he told of a family member who is profoundly affected by dyslexia.

“I sat there stunned,” said Phillips, who also has dyslexia. “It was a fascinating story.”

Not long after that 2011 meeting, Darrel Rolph died. Some months later, Dee Rolph made her first donation towards her husband’s legacy, which she said she wanted to be an inspiration for others. She’s now in her sixth year on the center’s board.

“She has been extremely helpful,” Phillips said.

Rolph and Knorr “are a powerhouse,” Phillips said. She said they’re “constantly asking questions” about the timeline for the new school and help keep everyone focused.

The center’s new building, its parking lot and grounds will be $15.5 million. The remainder of the $20 million raised will be for endowments for education and operations.

The center raised $10 million through a quiet campaign it started more than two years ago.

The current school accommodates 60 students. The new one will have 120 students. Construction is slated to begin in July 2021.

However, Rolph said there’s been what she calls some static from other potential donors who wonder about what seem to be possibly grandiose plans for the new 38,000-square-foot school, which will be on 25 acres with a creek and a lake on the property.

Also, the new building will be heavily influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright’s design principles and by an actual rendering he made for a building at Wichita State University that was never built.

Rolph defends the building because she said she knows from living with someone who had dyslexia and having three children with it that they learn differently than other people and need a different kind of environment in which to do it.

“These type of kids need additional stimulation,” she said. “So why not provide them with something that’s so much more stimulating?”

COVID won’t prevent fundraising

Phillips called Rolph a humble woman who doesn’t like to discuss her many donations, which extend beyond the Fundamental Learning Center. Remembering her husband and inspiring others is why she will acknowledge her donation in this case.

“I know her heart is definitely with us,” Phillips said.

Rolph said she knows her husband would approve.

“He really would be happy and excited to see that we’re providing something for these kids to be able to learn in such a different environment.”

Though the coronavirus is presenting new challenges to fundraising, it’s also highlighting the need for the Fundamental Learning Center, Phillips said.

“It’s been impossible for school entities to figure out how to teach kids to read at home.”

After a delay due to the pandemic, the center finally is proceeding with the public phase of its campaign, and Phillips said she is confident it’s going to be a success.

She said she’s going to follow the advice of a nonprofit fundraising group she’s been working with.

“You are going to think positively,” the group said. “You are going to move ahead as if COVID weren’t here.”

This story was originally published September 4, 2020 at 4:47 AM.