PEABODY — Peabody Education Foundation (PEF) is January’s beneficiary of Shaw’s “Give back where it counts” reusable bag program. For every purchase of a $3 bag, Shaw’s will donate one dollar to the foundation.
PEF President and Chairman of the Board David Gravel said, “The Peabody Education Foundation has made significant impacts on the lives of Peabody Public School students since its inception, and we are delighted to collaborate with Shaw’s to raise additional funds to continue offering programs to encourage creativity and inspiration in Peabody students.”
Shaw’s reusable bag program started in March 2019 with goals of facilitating community support and making a difference in “communities where shoppers live and work,” the press release said.
Kristine Bruno, who does marketing for PEF, said this is not the first time they’ve been chosen as a recipient of the funds from Shaw’s.
“That really helps us with our funding, because 100 percent of what we do is community funded. We really rely on the help from the community to kind of help raise funding for our programs,” Bruno said.
The funds they get from Shaw’s in January will go toward the PEF grants program and their mental wellness initiative, she said.
“Our grant program … we provide funding to teachers and schools to provide their classrooms and students with resources that fall outside of the normal school budget,” Bruno said. “Just as an example, we funded programs such as the green screen studio at the Higgins Ball Robotics and a number of field trips like the House of the Seven Gables.”
The mental wellness initiative is a program that PEF recently launched.
“Our mental wellness program aims to really provide awareness to students about their mental health and how to foster a healthy mindset,” Bruno said. “So the money used from Shaw’s will most likely be going to reading material motivational speakers, and other resources to kind of help them deal with mental health issues that are continuing to escalate.”
PEF wants to thank Shaw’s for “giving us this avenue again” and hopes people will consider purchasing the $3 bag.
“Every bit helps in our mission, and 100% of all donations go directly back to our Peabody schools,” Bruno said. “We’re only able to do all this from places like Shaw’s that give us that kind of additional avenue for us to raise money and awareness for our programs.”
