BRIDGEPORT — Talk of Bridgeport’s School Volunteer Association’s demise were premature.
After a year of warning the school system that the office which puts 800 school volunteers into city classrooms annually would cease to exist without district support, enough cash has been raised to run the program one more year.
“Good news,” Marge Hiller, former director of the Bridgeport Public Education Fund, told the school board this week. “Throughout the generosity of many, enough money has been raised to continue the work of the School Volunteer Association for one moe year.”
The office is funded on $175,000, enough to support a director and administrative assistant who work to get volunteers into 550 classrooms weekly. The volunteers read, tutor and mentor. The organization also coordinates groups and businesses that want to support the schools.
Funding for the positions were cut from the district’s 2018-19 operating budget and the organization used funds it had saved through donations to stay alive this year.
Anne Gribbons, the director of the organization, said the new donations came from volunteers, board members, companies, churches, foundations and grants. One of the largest gifts was $40,000 from the Bridgeport Rotary Club.
“The Rotary Club celebrated its 100th anniversary this year and decided to make a major contribution as part of the celebration,” Gribbons said.
Nearly $25,000 more was raised through a swim event. Jatin Mehta, 79, a volunteer and association board member who is battling cancer, swam laps in exchange for donations.
“He is an inspiration to all of us who know him,” Gribbons said.
Additional donations are welcome, she added, which...
from News https://www.ctpost.com/local/article/Bridgeport-School-Volunteers-Association-raises-13907802.php
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