Back to School Supply Drive
Summer 2011

The Jennings Strouss Foundation held a successful back-to-school drive for Gateway Elementary in the Creighton School District. To help alleviate financial burdens due to budget cuts, the JS Foundation committed to supporting the school, which educates a number of children from low-income families, by providing 30 first grade students with the necessary tools to begin the new school year.

Items donated included backpacks, pencils, erasers, pencil sharpeners, crayons, pencil boxes, glue sticks, rulers, scissors and addition/subtraction math facts flash cards. Through the generous assistance of Jennings Strouss personnel, the JS Foundation was able to donate 32 fully stocked backpacks and provide additional supplies to first grade teacher, Teresa Colonna Nelson. In addition, donated supplies, including notebooks and binders, were provided to the school.

The JS Foundation Board Members and volunteer, Mike Hutchison, delivered the supplies to Gateway Elementary on Friday, August 5, 2011, just in time for the first day of school on August 8th. The Gateway Elementary School representatives present to accept the donations included Janet Chapin-Walden (Title I Director), Dr. Nancy Uxa (Principal), and Teresa Colonna Nelson (Teacher).

Art Supply Donation
Spring 2011

The Jennings Strouss Foundation recently donated art supplies to the Gateway Elementary School art program. Supplies included colored paper, ribbon, embellishments and storage containers. The art supplies will assist the school with fun and colorful projects. Jean Fielder, a JS Foundation Board Member, made the presentation to staff at Gateway.






The Learning Garden Project
Spring 2011

The Jennings Strouss Foundation’s Spring 2011 project was “The Learning Garden.” Through this project, the JS Foundation focused on providing hands-on learning opportunities to students at Gateway School.¹

The “Learning Garden” project involved providing “gardening” materials for a 2nd grade class at Gateway. As part of an earth science unit, this class was learning about the different kinds of soil and the composition of soil. The class then studied rocks and minerals, and how the earth is a resource. In the last quarter, the class planned to study butterflies and their cycle. With assistance from parents and teachers, the class prepared a garden in a school courtyard and planted flowers to attract butterflies. This hands-on project was not only an important part of the learning process but also encourage parent participation.

The “Learning Garden” project raised funds to allow the JS Foundation to provide mulch, plant vitamins, and honeysuckle plants for the garden, and spades and gloves for the “gardeners.” The enthusiastic gardeners were anxiously awaiting butterflies in their new garden area.

Read one of the student letters

¹ Gateway School is a primary school in the Creighton School District, serving over 850 students in grades kindergarten through 8. Gateway has a 98 percent minority enrollment with 90 percent of the students on the free or reduced fee lunch program.

Branch into Reading Book Drive
Spring 2010

The Jennings Strouss Foundation selected Gateway Elementary School in the Creighton School District for its Branch into Reading Book Drive. The Drive focused on providing books to the school to assist in the development of reading skills for first grade students as well as reading opportunities for all students. Gateway Elementary is strongly committed to increasing student achievement in reading, including English language learners, through the core reading program.

For the first component of the project, the Foundation selected a first grade class. The class is a low language class and is currently involved in a pilot program to train parents how to work with their student at home. The Foundation provided copies of three separate books selected by the teacher. The teacher reads the book with the class and each student gets a copy of the book. The student can gain reading proficiency with the book and then take it home to read to the family.

The second component of the project allowed Jennings Strouss employees the opportunity to purchase books for the school library from the “wish list” provided by the librarian.

The drive ran during the months of February and March and garnered more than $500 in financial donations and more than 100 books for the first grade class and the school’s library.

Back to School Supply Drive
Fall 2009

The Jennings Strouss Foundation selected a fourth and fifth grade “combination” classroom at Gateway Elementary School in the Creighton School District for its back-to-school school supply drive. This was Gateway Elementary School’s first year to have a combination classroom of this kind, and Jennings Strouss committed to helping its 30 students prepare for the new school year.

With budget cuts and the number of low-income families at the Gateway Elementary School, the need for school supplies and student assistance was even greater. Many of the supplies run out midway through the school year and teachers are often burdened with providing the funds for materials out of their own pockets. Items collected for the students included: back packs, erasers, #2 Pencils, pencil sharpeners, spiral notebooks, rulers, supply storage boxes, Post-it notes, crayons, glue sticks, markers, colored pencils, scissors, Kleenex and hand sanitizer.

Gateway Elementary has a 98 percent minority enrollment and 90 percent of its students are on the free or reduced fee lunch program. Crisis Nursery, a Phoenix-based organization that provides protection, support and opportunities to local families in need and their children, also feeds into the school.

The drive ran during the month of July and garnered more than $2500 in financial and in-kind donations. Items were delivered to the school by Jennings Strouss Foundation board members on Wednesday, August 5, 2009 in time for the August 10 school start date.