Granada Hills : Educators Grateful for Donated Furniture

Last month, educators from Granada Hills High School could be seen backing rented trucks up to the loading docks at the Anheuser-Busch plant in Van Nuys.

Giddy about their good fortune, the teachers and administrators loaded six trucks and headed back to the high school.

But they weren’t delivering kegs of beer. It was used office furniture they were after--the kind of corporate donation Granada Hills High School Principal Kathy Rattay said makes a big difference to cash-strapped schools.

“It might not sound like much, but do you know how much it costs to buy a new filing cabinet?” she asked. “It’s used, but it’s free, and it looks beautiful to us. We got file cabinets, desks, chairs, tables. The chemistry department even got some lab equipment,” she said.

Rattay said she couldn’t clearly remember the last time the school upgraded its office furniture. “It was the last time somebody donated us some stuff. It must have been at least 15 years ago,” she said.

Today, students and administrators are throwing an appreciation party (alcohol-free, of course) for their Anheuser-Busch benefactors. The party will be served by students in catering classes at the school.