In its spring cycle, the East Grand Rapids Schools Foundation has agreed to fund twelve grants and four mini-grants totaling nearly $60,000.
The grants were approved at the EGRSF board meeting Wednesday, March 19. Last fall, the EGRSF board approved another nearly $85,000 in classroom enhancement grants. Together with program support, professional development, student scholarships, and a $400,000 contribution to the high school transformation (part of a multi-million dollar commitment over six years), the Foundation will contribute more than $700,000 to our schools this school year.
Students at Breton Downs, Lakeside, and Wealthy Elementary, East Grand Rapids Middle School, and East Grand Rapids High School will all benefit from this spring’s grants. They include another year of funding for the wildly popular March Book Madness at all three elementary schools, ESports equipment at the middle school, and additional funding for the Gone Boarding class at the high school that the Foundation helped launch in 2018.
Here’s the full list of spring grants and mini-grants:
Interactive Dry Erase Tables (Elementary)
Portable Sound System (Elementary)
Choir Risers (Elementary)
English Language Learner Technology (Elementary, Middle, and High School)
March Madness Books (Elementary)
Author Visit (Elementary)
Gone Boarding Paddleboards (High School)
Scholastic News Periodicals (Elementary)
English Teacher Conference Attendance (Middle School)
Science Olympiad (High School)
ESports Equipment (Middle School)
Cow Eyes for Dissection (Elementary)
reMarkable Paper Pro Tablet (Elementary)
“Our grants meetings are some of the best parts of being a Foundation board member,” says East Grand Rapids Schools Foundation Executive Director Amy Stuursma. “Our teachers, students, and administrators come up with these wish lists of what they want and we get to make them reality.”
At the end of April, the Foundation’s fundraiser of the year, HURRAH!, will showcase many of the opportunities the Foundation has provided for our students. It’ll be a big, fun party Saturday, April 26 on Wege Plaza behind the community center. Tickets are available on our HURRAH! page.
