Severn Savings Bank Donates 13 Grants for Teachers in Anne Arundel County

ANNAPOLIS, MD (October 25, 2010) Severn Savings Bank has made a donation that will fund 13 grants for local Anne Arundel County public school teachers. The effort supports the Community Foundation of Anne Arundel County’s second annual “Grants 4 Teachers” program.

The Grants 4 Teachers program enables local teachers to apply for mini-grants to support education projects and activities that enhance, support or enrich their educational curricula in low to moderate income schools. Severn Savings Bank awarded 13 teachers a total of $4000 to support their educational projects this fall.

“The applications we reviewed were all so inspiring,” said Kevin Carter, CRA Officer for Severn Savings Bank. “We are extremely pleased to be able to help these dedicated teachers implement their great ideas to enhance student’s excitement to learn in our county schools.”

Severn Savings Bank has a strong tradition of supporting community organizations, and it is part of the company mission to invest in the climate, culture, commerce and people of the Chesapeake Bay region. Severn Bank is actively involved in their community supporting programs, such as Grants 4 teachers, and the team enjoyed reading through the 28 applications submitted to select the 13 grant winners.

The Severn Savings Bank grant of $4,000 to the Grants 4 Teachers Fund, established by Joe Van Deuren of Balanced Life Skills and the Community Foundation of Anne Arundel County, will go directly to teachers in twelve Anne Arundel County public schools.

The microloans will fund projects such as the following:

A $389 grant to Emily Miller, an art teacher in Annapolis Middle School, to underwrite her efforts to teach students that art is also about raising awareness and using talents to better the community. Following the success of last year’s Hearts for Haiti project, they plan to create Hearts for Homelessness oil pastels to raise money for the local homeless shelter and the SPCA. The money will be used for art supplies, mattes and framing.

A $386 grant to Brooklyn Park Middle School teachers, Lisa Harding and Deborah Prestridge, to plant a butterfly garden in front of the school. Their students will study the migratory habits of the Monarch butterfly, grow milkweed and other native plants in the classroom, make scale drawings of the garden, and then plant with the advice of the staff at Arlington Echo.

A $150 grant to Colleen Nehmanm, a teacher at the Ferndale Early Education Center in Glen Burnie, to support the Read for the Gold program which encourages a love of reading and promotes reading at home. The grant purchases books that the children can keep and prizes that the children earn through reaching reading milestones.

A $300 grant awarded to Patricia McMahon of Four Seasons Elementary School in Gambrills to help bring More Seasons to Four Seasons. Part of the school’s effort to become a Green School, the students will plant, in front of the school, bulbs and flowers that offer color at different times of the year.

Other mini grants will fund flip camcorders for students at Lindale Middle School in Linthicum; thinking maps for students at Maryland City Elementary School in Laurel; bilingual CDs, audio books and players for ESOL students at Park Elementary and Brooklyn Park Elementary; planting a native plant garden at Pasadena Elementary; and Numbers Talk teacher training at Richard Henry Lee Elementary in Glen Burnie. It will also fund personal story Mini Quilts at Riviera Beach Elementary in Pasadena; an in classroom sensory space for special needs students at Van Bokkelen Elementary in Severn; and outreach through written letters to Iditarod mushers in Alaska from 3^rd graders at Windsor Farm Elementary in Annapolis.