INK! receives $7,500 donation from St. Augustine Lions Club for Take Stock in Children

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. - Sept. 7, 2023 - PRLog -- The St. Johns County Education Foundation, Inc. which operates as Investing in Kids (INK!), announced it has received a generous donation of $7,500 from St. Augustine Lions Club. According to Cathy Newman, INK!'s Executive Director, the contribution supports the purchase of scholarships for the 2023-2024 school year, supporting new students being accepted into Take Stock in Children-St. Johns County (TSIC).  The TSIC program provides low-income students with a unique opportunity to escape the cycle of poverty through mentorship, education, college success coaching, and the opportunity to earn college scholarships. Since 1998, INK! has been the exclusive umbrella agency for the St. Johns County Take Stock in Children® (TSIC) organization.

With the donation, St. Augustine Lions Club has supported the Take Stock in Children program since 2014 with more than $65,000 in donations, supporting scholarships for 19 St. Johns County students to date. Each student can earn two-year tuition scholarships to a Florida state or community college by meeting TSIC academic, citizenship, and school attendance requirements. According to James Wheeler, INK!'s Operations and Student Programs Director, every dollar donated by the Lions Club and other organizations gets matched one-to-one by the Florida Prepaid College Foundation via funding from the State of Florida Legislature.

Students are selected for TSIC when they are in the eighth grade in St. Johns County public schools. Upon acceptance into the program, students sign a contract to maintain a minimum 2.5 grade point average (GPA), continue good behavior and attendance, and remain drug and crime free. The program is the only public-private partnership of its kind in the U.S.

The TSIC program provides training and support for mentors to facilitate a variety of youth development and enrichment experiences, encourage good character, provide navigational support around school-to-work transitions, and safeguard against adversity in-school and out of school, among others.

Take Stock in Children (TSIC) is a statewide non-profit organization that was established in 1995 to offer low-income, at-risk students a unique opportunity to escape the cycle of poverty through education. Since 1998, the St. Johns County Education Foundation, which operates as Investing in Kids (INK!), has been the exclusive umbrella agency for the TSIC program in St. Johns County.

For more information, contact Cathy Newman at 904-547-7120 or email Catherine.Newman@stjohns.k12.fl.us. Visit the website at www.ink-stjohns.org.