SRNS donates $20K to support PEP

Monica Key, Public Education Partner's board chair, accepts a $20,000 donation from Savannah River Nuclear Solution's Rob Gentry, vice president of site services. Staff photo by Rob Novit.

Savannah River Nuclear Solutions has donated $20,000 to Public Education Partners, a Local Education Foundation based in Aiken.

The funds are expected to be used in part to support PEP's teacher of the year banquet, a School Board candidates' forum during election years and for public school facilities, said Natalie Fox, PEP's executive director, during a recent presentation at Aiken Middle School.

Representing SRNS was Rob Gentry, the vice president for site service. He is also a member of the PEP board of directors.

"SRNS is proud to be a sponsor of PEP," he said. "Education is essential in order to be successful and organizations like PEP support students, teachers and parents."

Aiken County Superintendent Dr. Beth Everitt also attended the presentation.

"I support PEP because it works across the whole county as a nonprofit, fundraising arm for the school district," she said. "They help fund the things we need. The board members have filled in the blanks, providing extra things for our kids."

In a press release, SRNS President/CEO Dwayne Wilson cited PEP's value in its assistance to the Aiken County school system.

"Their fundamental goals to create highly-valued supplemental education opportunities for the nearly 25,000 students who attend public schools in Aiken County closely align with our vision for quality education outreach," he said.

PEP dates back to 1995, when the organization supported schools within the Greater Aiken area. The program began to work with all of the county schools in 2001. Throughout that time, PEP has raised more than $4 million support of the schools, said Board Chair Monica Key.

Public Education Partners provides grant services to schools and also offers grants through monthly project requests from individual teachers. Fox also cited programs to bring in Smart boards to schools and for the past several years, funding to help installing career-oriented synergistic labs for middle schools.

PEP also supports school-based strings programs and, in June each year, sponsors Summer Institute, a professional development program for teachers, providing social services resource information to aid the teachers with at-risk children in their classrooms.

Fox thanked SRNS for assisting students and teachers.

"They are a platinum campaign contributor," Fox said in a press release. "We truly appreciate their commitment to support our organization in so many ways."

Senior writer Rob Novit, a journalist for the past 41 years, joined the Aiken Standard staff in 2001. He covers education news and general assignments.