Thanks to shoppers who frequent Dollar General Stores across the region, half a dozen schools in the area will enjoy a piece of a nearly $70,000 pie intended to boost youth literacy programming through the Dollar General Literacy Foundation.
The largest single grant in our area will go to the Hartford Public Schools, with $4,000 headed their way, while Allegan Public Schools getting $2,000 and Mattawan Consolidated Schools picking up $1,000 from the foundation.
Awarded annually at the academic school year’s inception, these grants help support teachers, schools and nonprofit organizations throughout the 44 states that Dollar General serves.
Todd Vasos is Chief Executive Officer at Dollar General. He says, “Through our mission of Serving Others, we are excited to support literacy and education across the communities we call home.” Vasos adds, “We hope the Dollar General Literacy Foundation’s youth literacy grants help strengthen literacy programs, expand library collections, inspire a love of reading in students and make a distinct impact to enhance the lives of children.”
In Northwest Indiana, grants were delivered also to the Clay Intermediate Center in South Bend, Five Star Life of Elkhart, and Hawthorne Elementary School in Elkhart.
Statewide grants in Michigan are part of more than $4 million that the Dollar General Literacy Foundation awarded last week. Since its inception in 1993, the Dollar General Literacy Foundation has awarded more than $140 million in grants to nonprofit organizations, helping more than nine million individuals take their first steps toward literacy or continued education as part of its commitment to helping increase the literacy skills for individuals of all ages.
The Dollar General Literacy Foundation also supports individuals in the communities that Dollar General stores serve who may be interested in learning how to read, speak English or prepare for the high school equivalency test. Referrals to a local organization that provides free literacy services are available online or through a postage-paid reply card that can be mailed in for information. Those are available at the cash register of every Dollar General store.
Grant applications for the 2018 grant cycle to benefit adult, family, summer and youth literacy programs will be available on January 2, 2018. The Dollar General Literacy Foundation awards funds each year to nonprofit organizations, schools and libraries within a 20-mile radius of a Dollar General store or distribution center to support adult, family, summer and youth literacy programs.
