Eastside awarded $10K grant from Goody’s

Susan Hutcheson, store manager at McMinnville Goody’s, presented a $10,000 check to Eastside teacher Kim Cantrell during a ceremony at the school Friday.

A portion of the grant will be used to purchase laptop computers for homebound students, like Eastside student Kenna Taylor who has cystic fibrosis.

Through the Good Deeds for Schools grant program, Goody’s will award $500,000 in grants to K-12 schools in Goody’s communities to help pay for items the schools need but cannot afford through regular educational funding, such as playground updates, new computer technology, and arts programs.

‘Knowing that schools are consistently under-funded, Goody’s store managers expressed an interest in creating a campaign to help their neighborhood schools and thus Good Deeds for Schools was born,’ said Mary Beth Fox, Goody’s vice president of marketing, strategy and planning.

Eastside Elementary will use its $10,000 grant to provide a real time education to students who cannot attend school due to disabilities or illness. The education provided will utilize a video-conference system which allows students who cannot attend school to participate in the classroom by providing interactive communication between the school and the student’s learning environment.

Such technology allows students to receive the same education as the rest of the students. This program will be available to all of Eastside Elementary’s students.

The grant program is funded in part by proceeds from the sale of Ashley Judd’s clothing line, available exclusively at Goody’s.

‘Children are our future,’ said Judd. ‘A good educational experience is their birthright. Fostering that notion is at the heart of this grant program.’

Grant applications went through two rounds of judging and grants were awarded based on the demonstration of compelling need (50 percent), an effective and executable plan of action (20 percent), wise use of resources (20 percent), and collateral materials (10 percent).

Through their support of children and education, Goody’s has found a way to impact the communities they serve for years to come.

‘In this, the inaugural year of our program, we received more than 1,000 applications ‘ far surpassing what we anticipated,’ Fox said. ‘This goes to show how many of our nation’s schools are in desperate need. I can’t tell you how much it means to Goody’s and Ashley Judd to be a part of the solution, and to have a chance to give back to the communities that support us.’