VENTURA : Businesses Asked to Help Fund Schools
In an effort to raise money for Ventura’s public schools, volunteers from a nonprofit educational foundation will go door-to-door to the city’s businesses next month to ask for donations.
The Ventura Unified School District Educational Foundation will launch the citywide “We Give Back to Schools” campaign in September, hoping to raise thousands of dollars that will provide grants to the district’s teachers.
A similar campaign last year raised more than $22,000, which was used to award grants to teachers of up to $500, said Barbara Meister, a member of the foundation’s board of directors.
Ventura teachers used the grants to help fund classroom projects in a number of subjects, including literature, math, science and fine arts.
Businesses are asked to donate whatever they can, but contributions usually range from $150 to $1,000 or more, Meister said.
“We patronize their businesses and give to them, and we’re asking them to give back to the schools,” Meister said. “With the economy the way it is, we need all the help we can get.”
The fund-raising campaign targeting business will begin about the same time school starts on Sept. 3.
A separate campaign to encourage Ventura residents to contribute to the foundation will begin later in the year, Meister said.
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