South Side High School PTA Awarded Covid-19 Relief Grant

Press release from South Side High School PTA:

Aug. 24, 2020

South Side High School (SSHS) PTA has been awarded $5,000 in grant funding from the National Parent-Teacher Association to help meet the critical needs of students and families due to Covid-19, with a focus on the area of local food security. Only 14% of applications received by National PTA were awarded funding, and South Side HS PTA is one of just four winners in the state of New York. With financial support from Tik Tok and other sponsors, National PTA awarded over $700,000 to individual PTAs and Councils across the United States to address local needs resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic. An excerpt from the SSHS PTA’s grant application indicated that “grant funding to improve the pop-up food pantry at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Recreation Center will directly benefit many of our food-insecure PTA member families and would continue our mission to build bridges between what have historically been segregated parts of our community.”

In June, SSHS PTA partnered with the RVC Council of PTAs to apply for multiple Covid-19 relief grants. The grant writing committee was comprised of retired RVC teacher Ginny O’Sullivan, RVC Council co-presidents Emma Travers and Laura Burns, former SSHS PTA co-president Donna Downing, and current SSHS PTA co-presidents Jean Harris and Cindy Vaupel. The committee focused on the issue of food security, given the increased local need in the early weeks of the pandemic, and was further inspired by South Side student clubs and teams, which organized volunteer efforts to stock local food pantries. Unable to meet in person, the grant writers used Google docs and met virtually on Zoom with Sharon Sheppard, Assistant Director of the MLK Center, drawing on her first-hand experience to identify specific needs of the food pantry that could be addressed.

According to Downing, “So many communities across the country are in dire need of funding to support children and families in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. We knew that funding would be awarded based on the strength of our application, as well as our ability and commitment to follow through on our proposal.” O’Sullivan confirmed the need for that follow-through, adding that “this is just the beginning of a collaboration that will make an enormous difference to the RVC community.” Harris added that the committee was guided by the larger PTA mission to “make every child’s potential a reality,” highlighting the group’s “continuing efforts to build and sustain a home-school partnership that truly reflects and supports the diverse needs of our community.”

Leslie Boggs, President of the National PTA, said “The COVID-19 pandemic is not over. National PTA and PTAs across the country remain committed to advocating to safeguard the health and safety of our nation’s children and make sure students, families, schools and communities have what they need during this challenging time.”

This press release was produced by South Side High School PTA. The views expressed here are the author's own.