More than 300 people signed up for Nashville’s first large-scale Color Walk on Sept. 21 and helped raise more than $20,000, which will go toward funding local preschool scholarships and supporting Brown County Schools’ parent-teacher organizations.
Participants could join the walk as an individual, as a family or as part of a fundraising group. Donations also could be made by people not participating in the walk.
The idea was originated by Kim Spencer, a PTO member from Helmsburg Elementary. Other local moms and the Brown County Community Foundation worked together to make it happen.
Spencer was looking for new ways to raise money for teachers, who often buy supplies for their classrooms out of their own pocket. “My hope was that this event could bring the community together to support our much-needed PTOs. Then we factored in the need for preschool scholarships, which are important to many kids in our community. … These kids and teachers are building the future of our community and it is very important for the community to support them,” she said.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]The community foundation has made more than 100 scholarships available to local preschoolers in the past four years, but the plan had been to have that need filled by the state once Brown County became eligible for the state’s On My Way Pre-K program. The state’s program, however, has different requirements for the families to participate, and it has not yet reached as many students as the foundation’s scholarships did.
Preschool scholarship money is available now for this semester and next in Brown County schools, said Deborah Harman, director of student learning for the district. Interested families should ask the principal of their local school how to start the application process.
