A tragic act of violence has been turned into a positive for the Gillett School District as money from an area foundation was used to install an in-ground sprinkler system for the school football and practice fields.
“We’re so fortunate to have this opportunity for this system at a school of this size,” Gillett Superintendent Todd Carlson said.
The money was donated by the Joshua J. Richards Charitable Foundation, an organization created after Richards, 25, was shot and killed on Dec. 8, 2013, at an Appleton bar.
The foundation in April agreed to pay half of the estimated $17,000 cost of the project up front, with the remainder in one year. At Thursday’s School Board meeting, the foundation presented a check for the remainder of the cost, 10 months ahead of schedule.
The irrigation system was installed earlier this summer.
“Our fields have never looked better,” Carlson said. “This has really made a difference to our district.”
“We could not have done this without all the volunteers,” said Scott Hamilton, foundation board member and volunteer assistant football coach in Gillett. “We truly have been blessed by the people of Northeastern Wisconsin.”
The practice field has been named after Richards, to honor his memory.
Richards, a 2006 graduate of Gillett High School, moved to Gillett from Milwaukee as a freshman. He played on the high school football team. After earning a diesel mechanics degree at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College, he worked as a diesel mechanic. Richards played semi-pro football with the Green Bay Blackjacks and was a body builder.
“He was always into fitness, and he was always trying to get people to get more into being fit and living a healthier lifestyle,” said Jackie Pische, Richards’ mother and president of the organization.
Members of the foundation determined that many youth do not have financial resources to purchase items needed to participate in athletics and other extra-curricular activities and began raising money to assist those youth.
Because Richards was an organ and tissue donor after his death, the foundation also works to raise awareness about the need for donors, promoting the University of Wisconsin organ and tissue donation program.
According to Pische’s testimony on the UW-Health organ donor website, Richards’ organ and tissue donations, including his heart and a lung, assisted seven recipients. Pische herself received a tissue donation from her son, which was used to make a bone graft for her spinal surgery months after his passing.
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