VERO BEACH — Farmers Insurance, one of the nation’s largest multiline insurers, announced the first 30 winners – including a teacher from Vero Beach High School – of its “Thank A Million Teachers” program, a national initiative through which Farmers is inviting America to offer a heartfelt thanks to teachers, present and past, for the positive impact they have had in communities across the nation.
Teacher Wade Dues, of Vero Beach High School, was selected as one of the winners of a $2,500 grant for his proposed project.
As part of the national program, Farmers invited teachers to submit proposals for $2,500 grants.
“These winning teachers are outstanding examples of the type of creativity and dedication found in classrooms across America and we congratulate our first group of winners,” said Randy Rice, National Manager of Education Programs for Farmers Insurance. “We know these grants will have a major impact in schools throughout the country and we want to remind teachers that they can continue to submit proposals through the end of October as we will have additional opportunities for them to win grants.”
During March, the public voted on nearly 1,300 submitted proposals with the top six vote-getters in five regions selected as winners.
In all, Farmers has committed to donating $1 million to teachers and education programs in 2014.
To date, more than 350,000 thank yous have been tallied on the www.ThankAMillionTeachers.com website.
Farmers Insurance is working in partnership with Adopt-A-Classroom.org, a national non-profit, to help teachers acquire the supplies and equipment they have requested in their proposals.
Farmers announced the launch of the Thank A Million Teachers program in late December at a special event featuring Jack Black, who thanked his former teacher Debbie Devine, who he credited with saving his life.
Several days later, Farmers brought additional attention to its campaign to thank educators across America with its Thank A Million Teachers New Year’s Day float in the Tournament of Roses parade.
The ThankAMillionTeachers.com website is continuously accepting the public’s thank you’s and posts a live tally of the number of thank yous received so far. It is also the place where teachers can submit their grant proposals for the next round of voting. Proposals for the next round are being accepted in March and April for public voting in May.
