The next batch of fourth-grade students in Ashley Slusher’s Patrick Hamilton classroom will have plenty of reading material to choose from when they return to school this fall.

The educator recently purchased around 100 chapter books for her class, thanks to a $480 grant from the Meemic Foundation, a nonprofit organization created by Meemic Insurance Company. The teacher applied for the grant in order to give her students — especially the boys — new, interesting books to read during her daily small group activities, where the students break into groups of six to eight to read chapters of a particular book aloud to each other.

Before the grant from Meemic, Slusher said she was purchasing new books for her classroom using mainly money from her own pocket.

Sadly, this is an all too common problem educators face, especially those teaching in districts without massive operating budgets like Dowagiac. All too often, teachers have to dig into their own pocketbooks to provide even basic supplies to their students.

And it is not the fault of the district either. With continuing cuts to K-12 education funding from Michigan and other states across the board, nearly every small school district is scrambling to find funding to provide academic services to children, without having to resort to turning to taxpayers.

This is why grants from organizations like Meemic are becoming more and more vital to the success of districts, educators and students. Even relatively small donations can make a world of difference in the quality of education our children receive, which can take students from merely absorbing material from lectures and textbooks to getting them excited and passionate about their lessons through engaging, hands-on activities.

Thankfully, plenty of other organizations besides Meemic continue to step up to support Dowagiac students as well.

The United Way, for instance, helps enhance the education of Dowagiac and other area students through its annual Day of Reading, where volunteers stop by local classrooms to read to students, or its supply giveaways, where they donate backpacks full of free school supplies to children.

Another massive benefactor to local students is the Dowagiac Schools Foundation. Every year, the foundation board donates thousands of dollars for worthy causes, helping pay for everything from field trips to computer equipment for Dowagiac students.

If so many different people didn’t choose to give their time, energy and attention to our students, the level of education we could provide to them would not be nearly as high.

 

Opinions expressed are those of the editorial board consisting of Publisher Michael Caldwell and editors Ambrosia Neldon, Craig Haupert, Ted Yoakum and Scott Novak.