July 2024 | Volume 15 | Issue 4
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Saving for the future Mountain Brook City Schools Foundation working to grow endowment fund By LEAH INGRAM EAGLE
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stablished in 1992, the Mountain Brook City Schools Foundation was created after a concern over lack of state funding for public education. The foundation’s creators believed the critical “extras” of technology, professional development and library enhancements would be the first cut during economic downturns, so an endowment fund was created to ensure the long-term protection of the school system.
See ENDOWMENT | page 22 Mountain Brook City Schools Foundation Executive Director Rachel Weingartner, left, and president of the board of directors for the foundation, Kristin Ritter stand in the lobby at Mountain Brook Junior High in front of one of the new video boards donated to the school system through the foundation. Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
Community shows support for teen injured in shark attack By SARAH OWENS Brad Simpson doesn’t personally know Lulu Gribbin or her family, but that hasn’t stopped him from showing support for the Mountain Brook teen who was critically injured in a shark attack at a Florida beach on June 7. Simpson owns Smith’s Variety, a small business in Mountain Brook that has been making purple ribbons in honor of Gribbin. “Neighbors want to be there for one another,” Simpson said, “and mailbox bows are a simple visual representation of the care and concern people have for Lulu and the Gribbin family.” Gribbin is one of three individuals who were injured in shark attacks that occurred within two hours and four miles of each other in the Florida panhandle area known as 30A, between Panama City Beach and Destin. She lost a hand and leg in the
Lulu Gribbin, her twin sister, Ellie, and Sherlock, a hospital therapy dog. Photo courtesy of the Gribbin family.
attack, along with two-thirds of the blood in her body. McCray Faust, also a Mountain Brook teen, sustained minor injuries to her foot in the attack. Roughly 90 minutes earlier, a 45-year-old woman was also attacked and survived her injuries. Gribbin’s family credits her survival to the bystanders on the beach, several of whom were nurses and doctors, who quickly jumped into action to pull her from the water and stop the bleeding while they waited for emergency responders to arrive. She has already undergone life-saving surgery and a leg amputation, with several more surgeries to come before she can begin complete recovery, according to her mother.
INSIDE
See LULU | page 23 Sponsors.............................4 City.......................................6
Business.............................10 Real Estate........................12
Events.................................14 Sports.................................16
Community.......................20 facebook.com/villageliving
All-South Metro
‘Forever Matters’
Mountain Brook players make All-South Metro baseball and softball teams.
Christian author Katy Shelton pens third book, “Forever Matters: How the Return of Jesus Completes You.”
See pages 16-18
See page 20