Felicia processed and printed nearly $90,000 in scholarship checks to 21 colleges and universities today. Awarding these is incredibly meaningful to our fund donors who have established these scholarships to remember loved ones, or to commemorate a special place, event or year. The Community Foundation has the most remarkable donors who have done all these things and more. A special thanks to each of them, and congratulations to the dozens of students who are beginning their higher education in the fall.

Hedgesville Middle School eighth grade Spanish 1 teacher Kelly Sholl thought she had a great idea when she applied for a community foundation mini-grant last fall. It turns out she was right, as her proposal was one of the most popular with our Grants Committee. In fact, at $96.05 it was also the least expensive of all. Ms. Sholl delivered great “bang for the buck” by purchasing one dozen popular children’s books that were printed in Spanish. Looking at the expressions on the students’ faces confirms that the idea was a resounding success.

In her grant report, Ms. Sholl stated, “My students have really enjoyed revisiting familiar stories from their early childhood years. Spanish became ‘real’ and alive to them when they were able to see the language in an authentic setting and not just from their textbooks. ¡Muchas gracias!”

We commend Ms. Sholl and her Spanish 1 students, and we are thrilled to be able to offer Mini-Grants to Teachers each fall. Our simple one-page applications go online September 1st and it takes less than an hour to apply. Mini-Grants range from under $100 up to $500 and this year we will award just over $30,000 total to teachers from Jefferson, Berkeley, Morgan, and Hampshire county schools.