The Giving Continues

USD 507 business manager Jill Wahl reported this past week that the classroom grant project came in $70.34 under budget, which prompted a discussion about how to spend this money. Why not another grant?

Combined with a $100 from a member of our congregation, the money remaining from the grant will be used to purchase classroom copies of the young reader's edition of Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson for Jennifer Hanson who will use these books as part of a service-learning project in her freshmen business classroom that will culminate with a Pennies for Peace campaign.

FYI--The Pennies for Peace program (P4P) educates children about the world beyond their experience and how they can make a positive impact on a global scale, one penny at a time. It teaches children the rewards of sharing and working together to bring hope and education opportunities to the children in Pakistan and Afghanistan. A penny is virtually worthless, but in impoverished countries a penny buys a pencil and opens the door to literacy. For more information, visit www.threecupsoftea.com.

This giving is the latest extension of the classroom grant project, which funded Kindergarten materials for Stacey King and Cayla Fraley, young adult novels for Karen Burrows' junior English class, MTSS support materials for Cheri Williams' ESL classroom, and a classroom lending library for Ardis Alexander's preschool class. It should also be noted that this giving sparked the Satanta Lions Club's generous donation to Claire Koops' band program at Satanta Elementary and to the donation of money to provide expository reading for Satanta Jr.-Sr. High via a proposal made by Vicki Decker.

Giving, it seems, spawns more giving. And that was definitely the case at the chicken-and-noodle thank you dinner that we recently hosted. It was there that we received a check for $500 in support of our mission to end poverty through the promotion of literacy both at home and abroad. This money, it was decided, will go to encourage Satanta students who have found success on state assessments. The money will be donated to USD 507 and will be dispersed in the following way: $200 will go to the 7-12 building to purchase performance incentives: $200 will go to the grade school to provide performance incentives for students in grades 3-6; and $100 will be given to the preschool, Kindergarten, first, and second grade teachers to purchase supplies for their classrooms. It was also decided that we will donate the items leftover from last year's Easter egg hunt to these teachers to use as prizes in their classrooms. Now we just need to get them from the shed!

On a final note, we also discussed the Satanta Library's need for items to support the children who visit the library after school. We all agreed that we could simply go through our own over-stocked homes and find items to donate. Suggested items include puzzles (appropriate for young children), books of puzzles, coloring books and crayons, and board games. These items can be donated directly to the library.