Joe Jarosz
Northeast News
Sept. 11, 2014

KANSAS CITY, Missouri — Teachers at Garfield Elementary, and from around the Kansas City area, got a pleasant surprise this week.

Google announced they are fully funding the classroom requests of every Greater Kansas City area teacher on the education crowdfunding site DonorsChoose.org. With Google’s $194,370 donation, 152 Kansas City area teachers will be able to purchase materials ranging from paper, pencils, books, laptops, musical instruments and microscopes for their 13,842 students.

The projects being funded at Garfield Elementary include:
-First grade teacher Gina Boltz requested materials for science centers to help get her students excited about science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).
-Third grade teacher Annette Rinehart requested funds to create a digital storytelling center in her classroom
-Fourth grade teacher John McCarty requested graphic novels to increase interest in reading and develop reading comprehension skills among English language learners.

DonorsChoose.org is a crowdfunding website where teachers post projects requesting materials they need for their classrooms, and donors support the projects that inspire them. In a press release, Charles Best, founder and CEO of DonorsChoose.org said he is humbled and grateful to Google “for their devotion to our teachers and students.”

On Sept. 10, 175 projects were funded in Cass, Clay, Franklin, Jackson, Lafayette, Linn and Platte Counties in Missouri and Johnson, Leavenworth, Miami and Wyandotte Counties in Kansas. Google posted a message on every funded project, letting teachers know they were part of the surprise. In addition to their project funding initiatives, Google has also supported several DonorsChoose.org programs over the years, including the AP STEM Access program, which launched over 500 new AP STEM courses at high poverty schools nationwide.