Shop Rat Foundation Receives a 12K Grant From the Jackson Community Foundation

Dec. 23, 2008 - PRLog -- (JACKSON, Michigan)—“The Shop Rat Foundation has been awarded a grant of $12,000 by the Jackson County Community Foundation’s Community Needs Fund”, Amanda Proctor said today.

According to Ms. Proctor, the grant will be used to support the Shop Rat Education Program’s small projects such as solar powered cars, super capacitor dragsters, wind turbines and other projects for the students to ‘make and take home’. “Our organization has grown considerably in the last year. The Shop Rat Education Program has quadrupled its class size from 15 to over 60 students. We have added three additional programs taking place at Classic Turning in Jackson along with the founding program at Peak Manufacturing in Pleasant Lake Michigan.  The Foundation is also collaborating with the Jackson County Intermediate School District to provide hands on activities to the middle schools within the district. “The grant from the Community Foundation will give us additional resources to provide monthly small projects to our students in which they will build during class and take them home to share with their families.” This grant was made possible by the Paula L. Teer and Rena B. Ludlow Endowment, component funds of the Jackson County Community Foundation.

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About the Shop Rat Foundation: The Shop Rat Foundation was founded in 2004 and has served Jackson and other counties by providing hands on skilled trade education to our youth to create the next generation of hands on skilled workers and/or citizens. The Shop Rat Education Program is an afterschool extracurricular activity for 6th -10th grade students in Mid-Michigan. Chris Salow is president of the board of directors. www.shoprat.org