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Date: 12/29/2021
BELCHERTOWN – In order to raise funds for its annual grant program, the Belchertown Education Foundation (BEF) is accepting donations in appreciation of teachers.
BEF Board President Heather St. Germain said there has been a way to donate in honor of teachers and staff for years.
“Ever since we were set up with the website, we made sure to have a tribute option so that we could give the community an opportunity to show appreciation to their educators. It was set up somewhere between 2018 and 2019,” she said.
St. Germain said donations are open to appreciate anyone who may have positively impacted a child’s education.
“It is just a minimum $10 donation, and the website is set up to have automated functionality for folks to show their appreciation to anyone but in our line of work a teacher, a mentor or coach, somebody who has made an impact in their education is what we focus on,” she said.
With the donations, St. Germain said residents can give back to the entire school community.
“It benefits everyone, it is a very simple way for folks to give during the holidays, teachers and staff in the schools feel appreciated and the money goes back into supporting the students and our public schools, so it is kind of a win, win, win all around,” she said.
All funding from the donations goes directly toward BEF’s grant program.
“The vast majority of the money we raise – probably 95 percent – goes toward our Student Success grants program. So, staff, faculty, even administrators working in the Belchertown Public Schools can put in a proposal for an innovative or enriching project in the schools through our call for proposals process, which typically occurs in the first quarter of the new year,” St. Germain said.
Following the submittals, BEF’s board of directors reviews the grants before they are awarded the summer ahead of the following school year.
Since 2018, St. Germain said the BEF has funded 25 projects to benefit the schools.
“They range greatly, which is what is in line with our mission, we really try to support a diverse variety of projects across academics, athletics, the arts, social emotional support for students and we have seen grants awarded in all of those areas,” she said. “It is about enriching the education the students are having in a variety of ways,” she said.
Among the approved projects include two outdoor classroom spaces, one at Swift River School and one at Cold Spring school, a hand chime choir at Jabish Brook Middle School and exploratory science curriculum at Jabish Brook as well.
By approving the project, St. Germain said the BEF is fulfilling its mission.
“Our mission is really to garner community support for the schools, which also means getting the word out to the community about what the needs are of the school, what the foundation is doing and to create a public, community movement to support public education in Belchertown,” she said.
While donations are open year-round, St. Germain said more people tend to donate around the holidays.
“We promote it and encourage folks to utilize this opportunity before the holidays as well as at the end of the school year, we do see more donations come through during the holiday period,” she said.
St. Germain added that she is looking forward to post COVID-19 success for the BEF.
“We are excited for what the future might hold once we get past this pandemic period. We were really poised to see some significant success prior to the pandemic so we are gearing back up to hopefully see even greater success in the future,” she said.
Anyone interested in donating or finding out more information about the Belchertown Education Foundation’s website, https://belchertowneducationfoundation.org/.