Passion Profile – LaFontaine Preparatory School

I’ll be doing a blog series on people in our community with a passion for making Richmond, KY a better place for us all. These people may be local entrepreneurs, business professionals, church leaders, volunteers, children or just anyone with that fiery passion for our community. I believe it is important to showcase those who make Richmond what it is.

I would like to introduce you to Gus LaFontaine, Owner of LaFontaine Preparatory School.

Gus moved to Madison County at the tender age of 6 and has been a blessing to our community since.  From his soccer and basketball days at Madison Southern High School, he knew that he wanted to be a teacher.  Though out of high school Gus enrolled in the Kentucky Army National Guard.  He was enlisted for 11 years before being commissioned a lieutenant two years ago.   Meanwhile, Gus received his Undergraduate and Masters degrees at EKU in Elementary Education and Instructional Leadership respectively.  Gus says “In the Army I gave 110% and now that I’m out, I’m ready to give 110% to my community.”

Hosting a year-end cookout for his Kirksville Elementary class at his home in Richmond.

Gus, and his wife Kristin, are just a little over a month away from opening LaFontaine Preparatory School located across from Richmond Centre.  Their website reads “LaFontaine Preparatory School is completely focused on putting your child in the absolute best environment to promote academic growth, social development, cultural enlargement, and a rise in emotional awareness.”  To hear Gus talk about the goal and the purpose of the school, the passion he has to teach our children is undeniable.

Gus’s plan isn’t your traditional pre-K curriculum.  LPS will employ a part-time Art Instructor and Dance Instructor.  Gus and Kristin have toured a number of high end schools around the country and have seen the amazing impact of yoga in students.  You also won’t find 15 year old technology or teachers throwing down boxes of Crayola crayons and calling it art.  Gus has plans to have the facilities lined with iPads with modern graphic design software to teach the students modern trends in technology and art.  I’ve actually been in discussion with Gus to have Surge Promotions transport screen printing equipment to the school and allow students to print their own artwork onto t-shirts.

He also has a passion for diversity.  While Richmond isn’t the most diverse of places, a “55 inch flat screen TV with a Skype connection” offers a lot in the form of connecting with students across the globe.  LPS  believes strongly in our youth experiencing and meeting individuals with different backgrounds.  Through technology they will be able to experience things well beyond the borders of Madison County.

The thing that impresses me the most, however, is his focus on his passion.  His goal isn’t to create another daycare in Richmond.  This is why he purposefully only has offers half-day sessions.  His passion is to deliver the ABSOLUTE BEST curriculum to these students.  When you hear him talk about his purpose in this community, you see him light up with pride, passion and determination.  He knows that he’s been called to teach the children of Richmond and that’s exactly what he has his heart set on.

For more information please visit the LaFontaine Preparatory School website.

Lunch on the Lawn

How special is your lunch break to you? Are you a ‘last night’s leftovers’ kind of person? Do you see your lunch break as an opportunity to network with colleagues or potential clients, or are you just trying to wolf down a sandwich so you can go back to work? Some people order a pizza, a sub or Chinese food. Or, if you’re like me, you use your lunch break to go out and enjoy an assortment of different restaurants.

This Tuesday, June 21st marked the 2nd in the summer series of Lunch on the Lawn campaign on the courthouse lawn in downtown Richmond, KY. Hosted by the Richmond Chamber of Commerce, this weekly event has brought quite the crowd to the heart of Richmond to enjoy a little summer warmth, great food and fellowship. Tons of downtown restaurants such as The Grind, Madison Garden, Opals Bakery and Regal Beagle have created specials just for this event. They offer discounted pricing on boxed (or bagged) lunches for anyone who calls in an order. They even deliver it down to the courthouse lawn for your convenience.

This event, while not that elaborate, epitomizes what brings communities closer. There are a dozen or more restaurants to choose from downtown, and tons of people that work within a few blocks of the courthouse. But what the Richmond Chamber has done has created an destination of community. They’ve created an opportunity of fellowship with our friends, family, coworkers, clients, city officials and just anyone who wants to show up!

So if you aren’t already booked for lunch on Tuesday, June 28th, come on down to the courthouse lawn. Call ahead and order a lunch or bring those leftover pork chops and share the sunshine with your fellow friends.  And don’t forget to check in on twitter, facebook or foursquare to tell your network all about it!

Spicy Running for Fiery Toys

One of the things that I want to make sure that I do with my blog (my little radio broadcast on the web) is to give credit where credit is due.  From time to time I’ll be showcasing some of the great things that are happening right here in Richmond, KY.  I don’t believe in tooting my own horn, but I do believe certain horns should be tooted.

May 30th marked the 2nd Annual Spicy 5K hosted by the Chick-fil-A at Richmond Centre.  216 participants came to run/walk in the wonderful event benefiting the Richmond Fire Department.  I’m not sure anyone beat the heat at 8:00 am (it was pretty stinkin’ hot), but Patrick Jenkins did beat everyone else as he took home the top prize with a time of 15:25.

Through the event, Chick-fil-A was able to raise $2,170 for the Richmond Fire Department towards their annual toy drive.   But I think there is so much more to the story of community than that.  What’s not going to make the news is the amount of time, effort, money and love that was poured into the event from all over.  Meijer donated bananas and water for the runners.  Panera Bread donated the bagels for breakfast .  Crosland, the developers of Richmond Centre, covered the cost of John’s Run/Walk Shop to come in and setup the timing equipment for the race.  Other gifts were donated as raffles and door prizes to bring much more value to the event for the participants.

Above all, Chick-fil-A poured in hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars putting on this event and every cent raised went directly to the Richmond Fire Department.  That is the beauty of this event.  Major businesses in this community pouring in all of these resources to raise money for a beautiful cause.  Yes, this event was named the Spicy 5K, and Chick-fil-A and the sponsors were highlighted and thanked, but that wasn’t the purpose.  All Chick-fil-A employees who ran, although not required, paid full entry to the event. Publicity was not the intent here.  It was great people working at great companies doing great things for great causes.  It’s beautiful to see the warmth of hearts pouring into our community, our Richmond.  It doesn’t get any better than that.  A special thanks to Heather and Neil Redick, Ruth Ann Lee and all of the staff at Chick-fil-A for putting on this annual event.  We’re all looking forward to next year!

What to expect at matthewtbrowning.com

First of all I want to say “Thank You” for reading this. You’ve taken the time out of your day to check out my area of the web and I appreciate you for doing so. My name is Matthew T. Browning and I’m passionate about many things I’d like to share with you.

For those of you wondering what you’ll expect to find here, let me first tell you some things that you WON’T find here.
1. Sales Pitches
2. Political Views
3. Pictures of my two beautiful girls (although at times that will likely be more appealing.)

The ultimate purpose of this blog is to provide my community with information on topics that I am passionate about. The topics may be something of which I have years of experience, may have just dabbled in, or it’s a brand new idea and I’m trying to check it out for myself. Either way the subjects I have plans for are:

1. Community (Richmond, KY)
2. Marketing
3. Small Business Development
4. Leadership
5. Giving Back
6. Social Media

These categories aren’t necessarily in order of how much time and effort I will be applying to each. However, I encourage you that if you’re the least bit interested in any of the topics, click the RSS Feed icon near the top right of the page and subscribe to this blog.