HOUSTON COUNTY, Ga. — 10 school districts in Central Georgia will get to celebrate teachers in a bigger way this year, and the Houston County School District is one of them.
The district received $294,000 for teachers from the Flint Energies Foundation at its opening session event.
"My response was this is exactly what we need,” Susan Bray said. “It was timely, and, of course, we are incredibly grateful."
Bray is a Perry High School teacher who attended the event where it was announced. The foundation said it gave the funds to support first-year teachers with supplies and to appreciate veteran teachers.
In the 10 districts, each elementary school got $6,000, middle schools got $8,000, high schools got $12,000 and district offices got $5,000.
"What this will enable us to do for a large faculty, because we are growing, is just drop a few little treats and reminders to let people know they're loved and appreciated," Bray said.
Houston County received the most because of its number of schools. Vice President of Communications at Flint Energies Marian McLemore said the Foundation wanted to give back to schools this year.
"We know that a lot of funds in the school systems go towards the students, and the teachers are sometimes left out,” McLemore said. “We just wanted to just love on our teachers, and this was one way that we could do that."
In total, the Flint Energies Foundation gave out over $600,000 to Georgia schools.
"Of course, our money is earmarked for children, as it should be,” Bray said. “But it is lovely for a company and a foundation like Flint Energies to think about supporting the people who support our children."
The Flint Energies Foundation chooses a new area of the community to give to each year. McLemore says it’s given over 10 million dollars in grants since 2001.