Principal Ed Bennett traveled with members of the Central High Foundation to Paso Robles, California over the weekend of Sept. 26 to help raise money for the Foundation.

The Central High Foundation was established in order to support various endeavors involving the school. Money which funds this foundation comes solely from private donors.

Field trips, foreign language trips and the new additions are all funded by the foundation. “The district won’t pay for [these things], but the foundation will,” Bennett said.

The board has not yet approved the plans regarding the additions, so fundraising for this has not actually begun, but the trip to California was taken on behalf of the Foundation in hopes of one day receiving private donations.

“Fundraising is a multiple contact operation,” Bennett said.

Bennett relates the process of fundraising to a fictional example of him opening a puppy farm for handicapped children. Even if Bennett knew people had the finances to aid in opening the farm, he would not approach them directly and ask for payment of the farm. Instead, he would set up a meeting, get to know each other and eventually mention the opportunity to donate to his farm.

“We haven’t raised a dollar for this yet, but there have been numerous conversations on the part of the Foundation with people who are interested and, once everything gets approved, would be likely to contribute,” Bennett said.

These promising contacts were made with fellow Central graduates over the weekend of Sept. 26 in Paso Robles, Calif. thanks to Dr. Fred Burbank.

Burbank is a 1959 Central graduate who has been very successful throughout his career. He has over 80 medical patents, one of which is for a non-invasive, breast cancer biopsy needle. Thanks to this invention, doctors no longer need to cut into the breast to test the tissue; the woman’s appearance is not greatly altered.

“This is a tremendous invention that has made the lives of women for decades much better,” Bennett said. “Because he patented that, has other patents and ran a full-time medical practice, he was very successful financially; so he and his wife bought a vineyard and got into the wine business.”

Michelle Roberts, executive director of Central’s hall of fame, contacted Burbank about the new addition hoping to get started in the next couple years.

Burbank was more than willing to put together a gathering at his vineyard to help out with raising money for the foundation.

“I am extremely grateful for the opportunity I had at Central High School,” Burbank said. “I came from a very, very small grade school. There were only 13 kids in my eighth grade class. Eighth grade and seventh grade were in the same room. When I came to Central from that little, tiny grade school, I was just blown away from the size of the whole thing. I had a wonderful time with the range of activities and of the quality of my classmates and teachers. It was a wonderful four-year experience.”

Because of this, Burbank felt like he had to give back to Central in some way.

This opportunity given to him by Roberts was his chance. Burbank invited around 40 Central graduates who currently live in California and have been financially successful.

“The idea was to get all these Central folks together in one place to talk about what’s happening at Central, the foundation and the addition. A lot of people want to give back,” Bennett said. “They are at the point of their lives where they have been financially successful.”

In many cases, just like Burbank, Central was the root to their success, so many of them wanted to give back, but they did not know in what ways to give back. “[This fundraiser] connects us with them. They want to give, and we would love to have their support,” Bennett said.

The graduates enjoyed reminiscing about their memories at Central.

“My hopes were that folks come, enjoy each other, remember days at Central and at some point open up their wallets and help out,” Burbank said.

Even if the graduates do not wish to donate to help fund the new additions, there are plenty of other projects they may end up donating towards for the Foundation. However, Bennett stresses that no money was to be expected right away from this outing.

“This is not a chance to ask anybody for money. This is a chance to explain what’s going on at Central to show the alumni about our current projects, and to give them the opportunity to support any or all of the exciting the changes that are happening at Central,” he said.

More fundraisers can be expected in the near future along the east and west coast, but as of now, nothing is official.