A grant awarded to the La Crosse Public Education Foundation will be used to purchase leveled books to help with reading and math skills for special education students at Central High School.

Mary Grace Sieber

The Mary Grace Sieber Fund at the La Crosse Community Foundation recently awarded the $1,000 grant that will go to teachers Dawn Martin and Bryan Morris.

The books cover a variety of skills, including practical applications of reading and math for shopping and cooking. “These are things that will help students with skills which will help them in their (general education) classrooms, in the community and in life in general,” wrote Dawn Martin in explaining the grant request. “This is done by improving reading skills, giving them skills for independence, improving math skills, following directions.”

The Mary Grace Sieber Fund honors a Central High School graduate who died in 1994 after living over 50 years with effects from severe polio. She lived a full life, including working 40 years at Wettstein’s. The fund supports projects to help young people with physical, emotional, or mental disabilities lead more independent and full lives.