INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — The Education Foundation of Indian River County received a grant of $5,000 from Grand Harbor Community Outreach Program to support the Sneaker Exchange Program.
Grand Harbor Community Outreach Program volunteers Luella Stiansen, Linda O’Grady, John Gijanto, Bonnie Caffray, along with John and Sally Pearse were on hand to present the grant check and to help 25 students in need from Pelican Island Elementary School select sneakers to remain on a path of learning.
The grant funds will be used to purchase socks and sneakers for more than 240 economically disadvantaged students. Each school year more than 2,000 Indian River County public school students benefit from this program.
The goal of the program is to keep children in need, from grades K-12, on a path of learning with renewed self-esteem. The sneakers allow the students to participate safely in all school activities.
The program is about meeting a child’s needs. But there is also an even deeper component to this service. More than 100 volunteers from the community contribute 65 times from September to May to help students at weekly Sneaker Exchanges.
The gift of their time to assist and mentor a child is invaluable. In less than an hour, children share their dreams, their ideas and their hopes for whom and what they want to become.
The Sneaker Exchange program is funded entirely through private donations and grants. The funding from Grand Harbor Community Outreach Program is essential to providing uninterrupted services to children in need.
To make a donation or to learn more about the Sneaker Exchange, visit: www.EDFoundationIRC.org, call (772) 564-0034 or email director@EDFoundationIRC.org.
To support the efforts of Grand Harbor Community Outreach Program contact David Warren, President, at davidw76@bellsouth.net.
