Sponsorship sought for new area teachers

For the second year, the Greater Aiken Chamber of Commerce is seeking teacher "sponsorships" to raise funds to provide gift cards for teachers new to the Aiken County School District.

"For about six or seven years prior to this," said Chamber President David Jameson, "we gave a reception for new teachers to welcome them to the community. But with the current economic times and the school budgets, we felt they could use cash over meatballs."

The Chamber is asking businesses, individuals and the general public to informally sponsor teachers for $50 each. They can provide more than one sponsorship if they wish.

"All the money will go into a pool," Jameson said. "We'll take the number of teachers and provide them with a gift card that the teachers can use anywhere. We will provide them with a Chamber directory and encourage them to use our members."

The new group of teachers will include veteran educators new to the school districts. But others, Jameson said, will be first-year teachers.

"They may be renting an apartment and could be cash-strapped with other needs," he said. "We thought we could provide gift cards as a way to say welcome to the community and relieve some of that burden. I wish we could do this for every single teacher."

The corporate sponsors for the project are SRP Federal Credit Union and Savannah River Nuclear Solutions. The new teachers will see the names of all sponsors contributing to the effort, Jameson said.

People can stop by the Chamber with a check or credit card or call 641-1111 to donate with a credit card.

"Our businesses know how strapped the schools are for cash," Jameson said. "I believe we'll see a nice groundswell of support from the business community."

Contact Rob Novit at rnovit@aikenstandard.com.