For those of you who may be unaware, Abilene Freedom League decided back in October of last year to take advantage of Texas State Law SB 797 to which any public school in the State is required to place an “In God We Trust” poster in a prominent place if a poster is donated. The idea was first pitched to the organization by Abilene Freedom League Director, Jennifer Bell. She brought the cause to the other Directors and they voted to engage in the fundraiser to put posters in every school in Abilene, Wylie, and the surrounding area schools.
From there, Director of Online Content Chris Turner and Director Bell worked on an article promoting the fundraiser and upcoming sign wave in the conservative leader in news, the Buffalo Gap Round-Up Newspaper. The paper proved once again to be a driving force for good in the community. Their website is https://buffalogapnews.com/
In the article, Jennifer Bell explained the reasoning behind the fundraiser and the need for the posters in schools. She said “Over the past year, I've noticed a strong disconnect between our school district(s), God, and Christianity in general. You will find LGBT+ books readily available in our elementary libraries. We're talking about five-year-olds having unsupervised access to topics their precious minds cannot begin to comprehend. We were told during the election season that these books would be reviewed and removed, but they remain. We are seeing things like social-emotional learning, critical race theory, and sexually explicit lessons being taught at earlier and earlier ages, yet some of our schools are receiving state scores which are barely at the acceptable level. Our district(s) are graduating students who are ill-equipped to face adulthood. When I first read about SB 797, I knew we must step in for the sake of these children, they face so much turmoil and angst from every direction, they look to adults for leadership and guidance. We are here to set that example, it is time we return to simpler times and a strong faithful message, all things are possible through Him - In God We Trust!!”.
The sign wave went off without a hitch as many of Abilene Freedom League’s members came out to hold signs or dropped by to donate to the cause. It not only served as a great way to get the organization out there but it proved to be successful in terms of bringing in donations. One person stopped at the sign wave and gave three-hundred dollars to the cause. Speaking of donations from the community that helped Abilene Freedom League meet and exceed their goal, there are too many to name individually but some of the biggest donations came from Dr. Bruce & Charlotte Davis, Jay Hardaway, Representative Stan Lambert, and The Honorable Phil Crowley. Others came from various upstanding members of Abilene and the surrounding areas who thought the posters were a great idea. You can read more about this in our previous article. https://www.abilenefreedomleague.com/post/in-god-we-trust-poster-fundraiser-a-big-success Between October and January, Abilene Freedom League Directors worked hard behind the scenes figuring out who needed posters and what the most effective way to get them made would be. To their surprise many of the smaller school districts in surrounding towns already had posters donated to their schools. Abilene and Wylie did not. After finding and ordering frames, they contacted Rich and Lynn Sanders of Vista Flags to make the poster prints. They had already helped the sign wave by supplying signs and flags. Once again, they did great work and proved to be a valuable resource to the community. You can check their website out at https://vistaflags.com/
With everything in place, Abilene Freedom League just had to wait until the next AISD Board Meeting. This took place on Monday, February 6. Organization Directors Jennifer Bell, Chris Turner, Tyler Lineweaver, and Kay Kay Lineweaver showed up to make the presentations. They were joined by Founder Mandi Rhodes and a couple other members.
Prior to the event, Directors Jennifer Bell and Tyler Lineweaver got AISD Superintendent of Schools, Dr. David Young to pose for a picture with the poster. Our Directors were happy to be there and doing this in the name of Abilene Freedom League.
Our Director of Public Relations, Tyler Lineweaver presented the “In God We Trust” posters for every school in AISD. He spoke about the Texas Law, what it entailed, and why it was so important. He mentioned the fundraiser and the overwhelming community response in favor of it. You can listen to the presentation above.
The poster donation brought some news coverage which you can check out below.
Abilene Freedom League also donated the remaining funds to the AISD Homeless Student Service Program. They delivered a check for more than $1,000 to Darren Cox on Monday prior to the school board meeting. It was a stated goal that our organization would donate funds over what was needed to the service and this is something we were glad to do. If you are interested in donating to the program you can find out more by going to their facebook page at https://m.facebook.com/100067779664405/ or contacting Darren at (325) 677-1444 ext 8641 or darrin.cox@abieneisd.org They accept school supplies, clothes, blankets, monetary donations, and more. You can contact him to find out exactly what they need at any given time. We will be going to the Wylie ISD Meeting on Monday, February 13 at 6:30PM if you want to join us as we donate signs to that district. All in all, the mission, message, fundraiser, and turnout was a smashing success and one that Abilene Freedom League was proud to lead. Thanks to all those who were involved in the process and helped us pull it off.
Written by Chris Turner Director of Online Content