The Penn Manor Education Foundation has awarded more than $37,000 in grants to teachers, counselors and social workers to support Penn Manor students and their families for spring 2022.
The grant awards are in addition to the more than $40,000 in Venture Grants awarded to Penn Manor teachers in fall 2021.
This latest round of grants includes $18,679 in teacher Venture Grants and $18,951 in Strong & Healthy Families grants. You can see a list of grants here.
The Strong & Healthy grants include $7,000 to support the TeenHope program, which provides mental health screenings for all Penn Manor seventh- and ninth-graders to identify those who may be struggling.
A $5,000 grant is being used to purchase uniforms, tools, supplies and certification fees for students who attend Lancaster County Career & Technology Center programs.
A $3,500 grant is helping students pay for AP exam fees, and a $1,951 grant is funding a portion of the tuition cost for students to attend dual-enrollment college-credit classes.
Students are identified for this assistance based on their family incomes.
A $1,500 grant is funding a Literacy Outreach program that will distribute free children’s books in the Manor Heights, Brunswick Farms, Willow Run and Pheasant Ridge neighborhoods, in conjunction with the Lancaster Library Bookmobile.
The teacher Venture Grants include several that support the arts.
Grants totaling more than $2,500 will fund easels and digital cameras for high school art classes, and a $3,520 grant will pay for a new kiln at Pequea Elementary School.
Two grants totaling more than $1,300 will support an effort to teach Life Skills students how to purchase and cook healthy foods by providing grocery gift cards and a griddle, blender and air fryer for use in class.
Other grants will fund “surf seats,” exercise balls and other alternative seating options for elementary students, school gardening instruction, a language translator and detailed anatomical models for high school biology classes.
A $750 grant is funding three “Family Fun Nights,” at which Penn Manor students in the English Language Development program and their families are treated to dinner and bingo and learn about community services available through organizations such as the Spanish American Civic Association of Lancaster.
Two grants will fund field trips, including a visit to Longwood Gardens that will include a session by a Longwood horticulturist on the care, grooming and preparation of plants for floriculture, landscape and design and plant science students.
Another grant paid for students and a teacher to attend a training conference on Aevidum, a school-based group that works to prevent suicide and assists students facing mental health challenges.
In addition to its grant programs, the Education Foundation also administers more than 70 scholarships that are awarded each year to Penn Manor High School seniors.
To learn more about PMEF, visit the organization’s website at https://pennmanoredfoundation.org/