FUTURES Foundation Announces Superintendent’s Most Creative Mini-Grant Award Recipient

FUTURES Foundation for Volusia County Schools named this year’s recipient of the Superintendent’s Most Creative Mini-Grant Award during a Nov. 2 celebratory program at Jackie Robinson Ballpark. 

Port Orange Elementary School Art Teacher Margaret Williams received the annual Superintendent’s Most Creative Mini-Grant Award for her project “Florida Plants: Friend or Foe?” The goal of this project is to explore the native and invasive plants of Florida and facilitate students as they document their beauty through art. Each grade level will begin the project learning about native and invasive plants in Florida. Students will explore the school grounds documenting the types of plants on the property. Students learning virtually can explore areas around their homes. All of the students will view the work of Florida nature and environmental artists Sam Vinikoff, Martin Johnson Heade and Clyde Butcher. 

In addition to being honored at the event, FUTURES Foundation presented Margaret Williams $250 in recognition for her creativity in addition to fully funding the grant which was sponsored by Rue & Ziffra. This year’s mini-grant sponsors also included Alexis Lenssen, CFP at Ameriprise Financial; BRPH Architects Engineers; Cobb Cole Law Firm; Duke Energy; Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University; Florida Health Care Plans; Florida Power & Light Company; Heart of Volusia; Jean Greenlaw Children’s Literature Mini-Grant Program; Latitude Margaritaville Daytona; Launch Credit Union; the State of Florida School District Education Foundation Matching Grants Program; and Stetson University.

Six additional projects were recognized for their creativity including: Wendy Warfield,
“Eagle Sensory & Fitness Journey,” Deltona Lakes Elementary; Maria Rosado, Sandi Johnson, Heather Murphy and Brittany Murphy, “Facing the World with Love,” Manatee Cove Elementary; Marianne Dolce, “Outdoor Learning Space,” Sunrise Elementary; Lisa Gaboury, “Live Kids Can Plant, too!” Heritage Middle; Stacy Gilmer, “Big Business: Management, Marketing, and Development,” Heritage Middle; and David Peralta, “Training Tomorrow's Sound Engineers: Expanding Vocal Arts to Recording Arts,” Pine Ridge High; These recipients received an award certificate and a classroom supply bag courtesy of 3M and Office Depot.

This is the seventh year FUTURES Foundation is using an online teacher mini-grant portal, Find it & Fund it, Volusia! to assist local teachers obtain the resources they need. The portal, www.FindItFundItFlorida.com/Volusia, was created to provide teachers with a way to secure funding through crowd sourcing their ideas and provide students with opportunities they would not have otherwise. Through this platform, teachers can request funding for a variety of projects and donors can fund them, either fully or partially, with 100% of contributions going directly to the posted project by using the “Fund This Project” button. Teachers can also promote their projects through their own social media networks. As a 501(c)(3) non-profit, donations to FUTURES Foundation for these teacher Mini Grant requests may be tax deductible; please consult your tax advisor.

From June to Sept. 28, Volusia County teachers submitted 147 grant requests totaling more than $113,000. FUTURES Foundation and its sponsors were able to fund more than $60,000 to 113 Volusia County teachers and/or teacher teams during the Nov. 2 Mini-Grant Celebration hosted by FUTURES. The public is encouraged to visit www.FindItFundItFlorida.com/Volusia to view these creative, innovative grants and assist local teachers in finalizing funding for their projects. The columns may be easily sorted by clicking on each header and funding takes place by using the “Fund This Project” button.

Photo 1 – FUTURES Creative Mini-Grant Award recipients, L-R are Volusia Schools Chief Human Resources Officer Mark West, School Board Member Linda Cuthbert, Wendy Warfield,  Marianne Dolce, Jennifer Coll (accepting the award on behalf of Lisa Gaboury), Stacy Gilmer, School Board Member Carl Persis, Pine Ridge Principal Dr. Paul Nehrig (accepting the award on behalf of David Peralta), and School Board Member Ruben Colon. Not pictured: Lisa Gaboury and David Peralta.

Photo 2 – Margaret Williams, center, an art teacher at Port Orange Elementary School received the Superintendent’s Most Creative Mini-Grant Award from FUTURES along with a $250 check. Pictured with Ms. Williams, L-R are School Board Member Linda Cuthbert, Chief Human Resources Officer Mark West, School Board Member Carl Persis and School Board Member Ruben Colon.