Grants from the Dolores Barnier Education Fund provide scholarships to graduating seniors of Chippewa Falls Senior High School through the Chippewa Falls Area Unified School District Foundation.

Dolores Barnier was the head cook at the Chippewa Falls Middle School, a job she dearly loved and held for 26 years. During that time, she fed thousands of children and enjoyed interacting with them on a daily basis. According to her family, Dolores looked after those students in her own quiet, caring way.

"My mom loved to cook," said her son, Jim Barnier. "My brothers and I grew up in a house where you woke up to the smell of fresh bread in the kitchen. We thought everybody's house was like ours!"

Jim and his brothers later learned that not every child went to school each day with the kind of hot breakfast they took for granted.

But Dolores was in a position where she could see what was needed, whether it was a smile and a hello, an extra meal, or maybe an extra portion after all the lunches were served, said Jim. "She told us that some children were so tired they slept at lunch. She would leave them alone and then make sure they had something to take with them for later." Jim remembers his mom discreetly taking money out of her paycheck to give to others. She also knitted mittens and hats to give to the kids who were without. No recognition was needed or expected.

According to Jim, before Dolores passed, they had "one of those talks that nobody wants to have." She told him of her desire to create a fund with the Foundation using any memorial money the family might receive at her funeral. It was her wish that scholarships could be granted to young people wanting to pursue careers in cooking or hospitality.

"It was important to her to provide scholarships to those who need extra financial help with higher education," said Jim. It's important that all of us take care of our community in some way. Mom will never know where this money went or whose life it impacts, but that's the beauty of a fund like this. It lives on."