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The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina recently awarded a $2,062 grant to Polk Central Elementary School from the Learning Links grant program. The grants provide local teachers with funding for activities designed to make required coursework engaging and relevant for their students.

 

The grant will purchase materials for an outdoor garden. “Rooted in Community” will focus on 1st and 3rd-grade students planting, tending, and harvesting a communal community garden and will serve approximately 89 students.

 

“The Learning Links applications I reviewed this year showed once again how creative WNC teachers are as they work to expose their students to hands-on and experiential learning,” said Philip Belcher, Vice President, Programs. “Through the dedication of these educators and with support from Learning Links grants, students build things, conduct experiments, visit new places and more – all experiences with the potential to deepen learning, support classroom instruction and stimulate interests.”

 

Learning Links offers grants of up to $800 per classroom to public school teachers in Avery, Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Jackson, Macon, Madison, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford and Swain counties to provide experiential learning projects for students. The goal is to increase students’ enthusiasm for learning and school. The grants are funded through the Cherokee County Schools Foundation Endowment Fund, Fund for Education, Ben W. and Dixie Glenn Farthing Charitable Endowment, Leon C. and Grace E. Luther Charitable Fund, Dr. Robert J. and Kimberly S. Reynolds Fund and an anonymous fund. This year, 57 grants were awarded totaling $101,912.

 

The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina inspires philanthropy and mobilizes resources to enrich lives and communities in eighteen counties in Western North Carolina. Last year, the Foundation facilitated $23.5 million in charitable giving.   

 

For more information, contact The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina at 828-254-4960 or visit www.cfwnc.org.

 

 

Submitted by Lindsay Hearn