C OMMUNITY PILLARS EDUCATION

Every 2023 issue of The Reporter will provide an update on one of GBU Life’s (GBU) four Community Pillars—Wellness, Education, Charitable Giving and Hometown Hero Support. The summer 2023 issue focuses on “Education,” including opportunities to enrich your community through volunteering and fundraising.

GBU first connected with The Education Partnership in Pittsburgh, PA, as part of Cardigan Day 2022. The annual, now national Cardigan Day recognition celebrates kindness and the inspiring work of Pittsburgh native, the late Mr. Fred Rogers. The GBU Home Office held its first school supply drive for the organization in October 2022, and the GBU Foundation awarded a $20,000 grant to The Education Partnership in November of that same year.

Program. In those schools, student and classroom supplies often not included in the budget. The Education Partnership purchases, packages and distributes the “basics” and operates a Teacher Resource Center, where teachers shop, once a semester, for donated specialty supplies.

In February of this year, GBU visited the Teacher Resource Center to educate teachers about the GBU Youth Leaders program. In March, a team of GBU employees volunteered to help restock, organize and clean the Teacher Resource Center, sort and count inventory and write encouraging notes to students.

For the 2023-2024 school year, GBU will begin a threeyear sponsorship of Pittsburgh Carmalt PreK-8 through The Education Partnership’s Adopt-A-School program. Pittsburgh Carmalt is a Pittsburgh Public Schools Science and Technology Academy, just miles from the Home Office. Employee volunteers will package supplies this summer and present them to students when they return to school this fall.

If you are in the Pittsburgh region and would like to contribute to GBU’s online supply drive, please text GBUSupply to 41444 or visit gbu.org/supply

The Education Partnership provides school supplies to students and teachers in over 190 schools in the Pittsburgh region, where 70% or more of their students qualify for free or reduced-price lunches through the National School Lunch