The Rite Aid Foundation announced today a $15,000 grant to Impact Alabama. A non-profit organization based in Birmingham, Impact Alabama works collaboratively with higher education institutions and their surrounding communities in order to develop and implement social justice projects that work to achieve fundamental and systemic change throughout the State of Alabama. The organization will use the grant to expand FocusFirst, a vision screening program for children ages six months to five years, in Head Start classrooms and lower-income daycares across the state. The Rite Aid Foundation previously awarded Impact Alabama a $15,000 grant in 2010.

“Every child deserves quality healthcare, regardless of their environment or their family’s ability to pay,” said Gayle Rife, Manager of The Rite Aid Foundation.

Fifth graders from Southside Middle School in Tallassee recently completed a special Valentine’s Day project – one “from the heart”.

Daiann Hughes, a fifth grade teacher at Southside, coordinated the project.  Mrs. Hughes went online and searched for schools that were in need of books after the devastation wrought by Superstorm Sandy during November, 2012. 

One school system caught her attention – New York City’s Staten Island was particularly hard-hit – and after contacting the Superintendent’s office, discovered that PS 39 in Staten Island had lost its library in the storm.

The fifth grade team of teachers consists of Elizabeth Herring, Heather Burton, Erin Smith, Diane Kuehndorf, Daiann Hughes, and Cory Eckstein.

Southside Middle School in Tallassee recently decided to do something special for students at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

Eighth graders, under the guidance of teachers Heather Henderson and Heather Ernest, designed and decorated paper snowflakes with inspirational words on them.  Some students chose Bible verses, while others wrote comforting thoughts.

Sandy Hook administration and faculty welcomed snowflakes from schools all over the country who participated, in hopes of decorating the halls of their new building as a “winter wonderland”.

Pictured is Heather Henderson with some of the snowflake designs.