Connecting the Dots

LEGACY Summer 2026 | Lives have an interesting way of connecting the dots. We first met Lily Janson in 2020 as a scholarship applicant. Full of potential, she was awarded Marion Community Foundation scholarships for several years as she pursued a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education and Master’s in special education.

One scholarship she received stands out—the Christopher B. Ream Scholarship—for students pursuing helping professions. Lily actually knows Christopher, a local man with learning and physical disabilities, because her mother, who works for RHAM, is one of his caregivers.

“Both of my parents have spent their professional lives helping people with disabilites,” said Lily. “The compassion I learned from them shaped my life and career journey.”

Lily is now a K-2 special education teacher at Garfield Elementary in Marion and, if you look at the page on the left, a first time TEACH grant recipient from Marion Community Foundation. Her grant will help equip the Specialized Learning Center at the school.

“Marion Community Foundation has helped me so much. Scholarships helped me get my degrees,” she said. “Receiving a TEACH grant and having the Foundation also support, not only my career, but my students and my classroom, enables and motivates me to be the educator I am today.”