Did you know that Ohio Revised Code 3313.801 allows individuals to donate a framed item that includes our national motto “In God We Trust” to Ohio public school districts and by law the school district is required to display it in the auditorium, cafeteria or a school room? The InGodWeTrust project, , sponsored by EmpowerU, takes advantage of this unique law to allow interested individuals to sponsor a framed image of the national motto and help put God back in Ohio public schools.
We asked Dan Renegold, founder of EmpowerUAmerica, about his inspiration for the project. “I was sitting at my desk last April looking at a dollar bill and was interested in the words inscribed on it. I looked into it and found the history amazing. About 3 months later an attorney I was working with came across the revised code and sent it to me. I thought wouldn’t it be cool to do something with this that would be positive and something that everyone could agree on- something that seems to be hard to do these day?” And so the In God We Trust project was born.
Progress to Date
The goal is place framed plaques in half of all 614 public school districts in the state of Ohio or 307 districts “So far we’ve had 56 sponsors step up,” said Regenold. “Many of the donations have been to districts in Hamilton County, but we’ve had a few frames mailed to districts in the city of Cleveland and around Columbus. We need to get the word out around the state.
“We’ve received no negative comments from any of the districts and 4 or 5 letters with positive comments. Greg Power superintendent of Little Miami Schools in Maineville, Ohio wrote, “…we wish to sincerely thank you for your kind donation of the framed flag. We look forward to placing this flag in a place of importance at the Little Miami High School. We have a strong culture of patriotism at Little Miami and feel it is very important to continue to educate our students on the importance of honoring our country.”
Although state law only requires each district to accept one framed image, some districts have accepted more. “If a school district is taken on the pull down menu, we are happy to contact them directly to see if they will accept another donation. Just contact us by email and we can take it from there,” said Regenold.
7 Simple steps to put God back in Ohio schools:
• Go the InGodWeTrust
• Pick one of the 4 “In God We Trust” designs available;
• Choose the desired Ohio county;
• Select the school district you’d like to receive it
• Indicate the name of the donor or organization
• Indicate a message you’d like to include and
• Go to cart to complete the transaction.
The school district selected will receive the framed image ready to hang, a history of the national motto that can be posted alongside of the framed image, the name of the donor and the donor’s personal message. The district will be asked to return a photo of the framed image to show where they have placed it. The framed products are 100% manufactured and all components are made in the U.S.A. Frames are manufactured in Cincinnati, OH at Frameusa.com which is an affiliated organization with the Managing Board Member of EmpowerUAmerica.org. Framed images are made available to the In God We Trust Project at cost.
For more information or to purchase Need Help? Email info(at)EmpowerUAmerica.org or call 513-250-4129
EmpowerUAmerica is a non-profit organization founded in 2010 by Dan Regenold, founder and CEO of Frame USA. Regenold’s vision was to create a free university in the Greater Cincinnati area to empower people through information and education. EmpowerUAmerica hosts about 40 guest speakers per year who present classes on current topics related to education, politics, history, and government. In the spring of 2015 Regenold turned a storage room at Frame USA into a studio that seats 100 people with state of the art audio visual equipment. Classes can be attended in person at EmpowerU Studio in Springdale, OH or live streamed. For more information, to view the upcoming class schedule or to view past classes:
