EASTERN KENTUCKY PRIDE

News release 

SOMERSET – Eastern Kentucky PRIDE announced that it will award $4,095 for hands-on environmental education projects in Casey County during the 2017/18 school year.

Overall, PRIDE will award $119,155 to educators across 42 counties of southern and eastern Kentucky through the PRIDE Environmental Education Grant Program, which was made possible by a grant to PRIDE from the Appalachian Regional Commission.

Educators applied for the grants, and PRIDE selected the grant recipients through a competitive review process. The grant projects may begin after recipients complete a training webinar later this month.

The grants can be used for a variety of educational activities that help students appreciate and care for the environment and to serve their community.

Casey County High School will use its $2,748 grant to expand its chicken farm on campus. The grant will be used to buy a brooding building for chicks and construct a bin to compost the chicken manure and garden scraps. The school currently has 35 laying hens, and the eggs are used in five schools. Students also raise 200 meat birds every eight weeks that are used in the high school cafeteria.

Liberty Elementary School received a grant of $1,346 to buy materials for a student recycling program. Each sixth-grade student will receive the book Planet Patrol: A Kids’ Action Guide to Earth Core and learn how they can make a difference through recycling. Recycling bins will be added in classrooms and throughout the school. A PRIDE Club will be formed to promote the concept of personal responsibility for the local and global environment while building school and community pride.

“I want to congratulate the grant recipients and thank the educators who are leading these projects,” said Tammie Wilson, PRIDE President and Chief Executive Officer.

“You are making a difference by opening our students’ eyes, hearts, and minds to caring for our region’s incredible natural resources. You also are helping your students grow academically through hands-on activities that allow them to practice key skills, such as math and problem-solving. Environmental education really is a great investment for students and our region.”

Promoting environmental education is a key mission for PRIDE, which is a nonprofit organization. PRIDE contributes to the economic and cultural growth of southern and eastern Kentucky by improving water quality, cleaning up solid waste problems, and advancing environmental education, in order to improve living conditions for its residents while enhancing the potential for tourism industry growth in the region.

Since 1997, PRIDE has awarded 1,609 Environmental Education Grants that impacted 892,834 students across the region. Schools have used PRIDE funds for a wide variety of activities, such as building outdoor classrooms, nature trails, wetlands, and greenhouses.

For a complete list of 2017/18 grant recipients, please visit www.kypride.org.