President Herbert Hoover promised a nation “a chicken in every pot” (and a car in every garage). Hoover became president eight months before the stock market crash in 1929 marking the beginning of “The Great Depression.”

My parents, Earl and Mary Margaret Flaherty Madden, were children growing up in farm families in Iowa. Neither of them graduated from high school as it was fairly normal, during this time, for children to work.

As a child living in Daly City, California, the Madden family didn’t own a car because my parents chose to spend what they had on private school tuition for three children. I was proud to be a student at Our Lady of Perpetual Help School. To me, it meant that my parents loved me and cared about my future.

Forgive me if I seem to brag, but as time passed, my brother, John Madden, became the first college graduate in the history of the Madden and Flaherty families. He is currently in the NFL Hall of Fame for his prowess as the head coach of the Oakland Raiders in their glory days, and I have lost count of the number of Emmy awards he has earned for excellence in sports broadcasting.

I was the third college graduate in my family. Since then there have been many more, including Maddens with degrees from the University of Washington, Harvard and Brown.

I’m sharing this story with you because I recently attended the 17th Annual Auction for the Federal Way Public Academy.

According to Principal Kurt Lauer, the Academy is “a college preparatory experience that is equal to the education provided at the most elite private schools. The current tuition at Lakeside Preparatory School in Seattle is $30,850. Our goal is to raise a similar amount, but the big difference is that at Lakeside this is the cost for one student, while at FWPA, if we can supplement our publicly funded budget by this amount, we can provide a college preparatory education for over 300 students.”

Community support for this school is sincerely touching. Donations from Costco, the Doubletree Suites by Hilton, Emerald Downs, Hampton Inn of Federal Way, Jimmy Mac’s Roadhouse, Three Trees Yoga, Poverty Bay, The Marriott of Federal Way, Twin Lakes Golf and Country Club, Wild Waves and many others were auctioned to provide this elite public school experience.

Parents must provide transportation, and there are no sports programs at the Federal Way Public Academy. There is no entrance exam required; rather, students are chosen by lottery. Currently there are roughly 137 children and young adults on the waiting list. The school relies on dedicated students, active parents and community support in concert with a great teaching staff.

The student volunteers I met were enthusiastic and demonstrated a tremendous amount of school pride. Parents bid on auction items generously. But what I found most impressive was the number of community members who didn’t have a child in the school but came to the auction to support this vital program.

I feel proud of Federal Way for having such a force of stand-up people who care about children. It reminds me of my parents who, even though they paid tuition for three children in a parochial school, always voted for the public school levies. As my dad used to say: “All children belong to all of us.”

Federal Way resident Judith Madden Magruder can be reached at judithmagruder@hotmail.com.