By: Seth Johnson

Since 2011, Indiana School for the Blind and Visually Impaired (ISBVI) has provided students and their families with a food pantry of goods to help supplement any food needs they might have.

After learning of a gap in funding last spring, the Indiana Blind Children’s Foundation (IBCF) stepped in to make sure the food pantry could still operate at full capacity. In addition to IBCF financial support, IBCF received grant support from a small nonprofit known as Quest for Excellence.

“It was a need that I felt was very important to help give those kids the best environment,” says Patti Foltz, Quest for Excellence president. “They already have enough going against them — food should not be an issue.”

In addition to supporting the ISBVI food pantry, Quest for Excellence also helped fund the 2023 ISBVI summer camps.

“I learned about the summer camps, and I thought it was very, very important that the students had that opportunity because so many kids just kind of flounder in the summer,” Foltz says.

Since Quest for Excellence first started contributing to IBCF initiatives, Foltz has grown all the more passionate about the foundation’s cause.

“After being at the graduation ceremony and hearing those young people speak, it was just a very inspiring, emotional God moment for me,” Foltz says.

In reflecting on the food pantry and the financial support it now receives from IBCF, ISBVI school psychologist Selina Ho couldn’t be more grateful.

“When IBCF stepped in, it was such a beautiful thing,” she says. “The food pantry has just been an integral part of the support for our families and our staff since 2011.”