The Sumter EMC Foundation awarded Sumter County Elementary School $5,000.00 to offset the cost of purchasing a poster printer. One of the schools' goals this year is to enhance the literacy and numeracy culture, and extensive visual aids help their students get excited about reading, writing, and math. Teachers can create attractive, colorful materials to use for instruction. The posters also assist administrators in sharing data with stakeholders and provide a permanent snapshot of the year for student learning, monitoring school improvement work, and future planning needs.

“Through this grant from our Foundation, Sumter EMC is proud to be part of the effort to supply the school with funds to help further the education of students in Sumter County,” said Andrea Walker, Chairman of the Sumter EMC Foundation. The Sumter EMC Foundation was founded in 2003 and is funded by Cooperative members participating in Sumter EMC’s Operation Round Up®. Every month Sumter EMC rounds up the electric bill of participating members to the following whole dollar amount and deposits the difference into an interest-bearing account. The Sumter EMC Foundation’s board of trustees administers the funds through grants to local schools and civic and charitable organizations. These grants give one hundred percent of the money collected to the community. The Foundation has awarded over $1,201,000 to community organizations in Sumter EMC’s service territory.