REC has always been active with local school systems. From attending career days and giving electrical safety demos, to providing scholarships to students and grants to educational programs, REC supports schools, teachers and students in a variety of ways.
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted every aspect of life, especially schools. Finding new ways to continue providing support, REC has donated resources and provided funding to different nonprofit groups across the Cooperative’s service area. Recently, REC made a $2,000 donation to both the Frederick County Educational Foundation and the Clarke County Education Foundation.
The Frederick County Educational Foundation (FCEF) is a nonprofit organization that provides financial resources to Frederick County Public Schools, awarding classroom and STEM grants to fund innovative programs for the more than 13,000 students in the Frederick County Public School system.
"As teachers worked through their reimagined COVID-19 classrooms, they were faced with expenses they paid out of their own pockets," explained Brian Wolfe, REC’s senior public relations specialist, who helped coordinate the donation. "The FCEF’s grant will help teachers offset those expenses, and REC’s donation will directly support four Frederick County teachers."
Likewise, the Clarke County Education Foundation (CCEF) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing private support to Clarke County Schools to enhance its tax-supported programs. Since its inception, the CCEF has provided student scholarships, teacher grants, system demonstration grants and donor-defined projects.
"The donation REC made to CCEF will be broken down to support three different initiatives, from supporting individual teachers to providing assistance with school-wide services," Wolfe said.
To help offset the expenses that teachers experienced while purchasing materials, supplies and learning tools, $1,000 will go towards supporting numerous teachers whose expenses range anywhere from $20 to over $100.
The other half of the donation will be split evenly between two services - the development and logistical cost of creating virtual field trips for Clarke County Schools to the Discovery Museum in Winchester and the Internet Kajeets service, which is a subscription service that provides 36 mobile hotspots for students without internet access.
