Carpenters Give Community Scholarships to NW Indiana Schools

Because of their great work in the community, three elementary schools received extra funding through an award from the Indiana Kentucky Ohio Regional Council of Carpenters. Seven years ago the IKORCC began partnering with local elementary schools to promote community involvement and giving back to their hometowns.

The partnership with the Carpenters Union incentivizes elementary students to be involved in their communities by offering an award of $500 dollars to one school in each of the participating counties. Each quarter the schools enter into a drawing based on their project in hopes to win the award and recognition of their community project! The Kids Caring for the Community Initiative has grown to be a highlight at many elementary schools within Lake, Porter and LaPorte Counties.

This week Carpenters Union Representatives, along with Sara Gutierrez, Principal of George Earle Elementary, presented this quarter’s awards. The winning schools include Westville Elementary, Homer Iddings Elementary and Porter Lakes Elementary School.

Homer Iddings Elementary School dedicated their community project to collect resources for their local Humane Society. The students brought in paper towels to donate to the center. Principal Teri Crussen says, “The Kids caring for the Community initiative brings the students at Iddings Elementary School great pride. The students love to bring a smile to someone else through the various community projects. We often get thank you cards from the organizations who have been helped through the projects and we share those with the students and families. Showing kindness to others is always a good thing and the students love having the opportunities to offer assistance and support the community organizations”.

Westville Elementary School is no rookie to community involvement. The school has been recognized in the past for their impact in the community and because of that, raised enough money to build a STEM classroom at their school. The STEM classroom gives students the opportunity to practice creativity, problem solving and life skills. The school received the $500 award this quarter because of an afterschool program called Girls on the Run. The students participated, raised money and made a meaningful contribution back to their community.