Welcome Elementary School Receives $8,250 from the Verizon Foundation

GREENVILLE, SC – September 20, 2011 – The Verizon Foundation today awarded to Welcome Elementary School an $8,250 grant for its “I Love Math Now!” program, utilizing Thinkfinity.org, an award-winning educational web site with tens of thousands of free, engaging materials for teachers and students. The Welcome Elementary School math program is specifically designed to reinforce classroom learning with engaging, hands-on math instruction. The grant will provide funding to purchase math curriculum that creates an experiential learning environment for math concepts.

“Verizon has a long-standing commitment to education to improve the lives of our children,” said Jerry Fountain, Verizon Wireless president for the Carolinas and Tennessee region. “We were compelled by the passion of the teachers at Welcome Elementary to inspire a love of math in their students, and we are happy to offer the assistance needed for their innovative program.”

Verizon Thinkfinity (www.thinkfinity.org) is an interactive educational platform that provides tens of thousands of free resources for use in and out of the classroom.  The site contains thousands of engaging resources that make learning fun. Lesson plans, in-class activities and homework help can be found quickly and searched by grade level, keyword or subject.  To access Thinkfinity, visit www.thinkfinity.org.

The Verizon Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Verizon, uses its technology, financial resources and partnerships to address critical social issues, with a focus on education and domestic violence prevention. In 2010, the foundation awarded nearly $67 million to nonprofit agencies in the U.S. and abroad. Through Verizon Volunteers, one of the nation’s largest employee volunteer programs, Verizon employees and retirees have volunteered nearly 6 million hours of community service since 2000. For more information on the foundation, visit www.verizonfoundation.org.