TFAE donates over $120,00 to public school educators

The Terrebonne Foundation for Academic Excellence partnered with the Bayou Community Foundation to present a $40,000 donation to educators at Ellender Memorial High School. The surprise donation was presented to the teachers last week, with each teacher receiving $700 to stock their classrooms with the supplies needed.

TFAE’s Executive Director Ashlee Barahona, said the funds for the donation were raised through the Adopt A Classroom Project, a program established in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida, due to the immense amount of aid needed in public schools following the devastating storm. “We knew that more than 90 percent of our schools were destroyed or needed major repairs. So right after the storm, TFAE made a call to the community to help us fund the project, and one of the first people to answer that call was the Bayou Community Foundation and they granted TFAE $100,000 for the particular program. Since then we’ve had numerous other individual donors and community partners to step up and fund that program to date,” said Barahona.

Ellender High School sustained over 20 million dollars in damage from Hurricane Ida. Nearly one year after the storm, Ellender High opened its doors to 825 students on August 9, with classes being held in temporary modular buildings. School leaders said it will take at least 3-4 years for the school’s main building to reopen.

Yesterday’s surprise donation isn’t the first made by TFAE, on Friday, August 5, TFAE stopped by South Terrebonne’s Staff Development Day to present teachers with a $40,000 donation to help teachers supply their classrooms. “We’re honored to join TFAE at South Terrebonne High School as TAFE presented a $40,000 grant to help STHS teachers re-supply their classrooms, a grant supported by BCF’s Bayou Recovery Fund for Hurricane Ida Relief. It’s been a tough year for students and teachers after Hurricane Ida wrecked the STHS campus, but a new impressive portable campus has been built to bring everyone back home to Bourg this year! Welcome home Gators!” reads a statement from the Bayou Community Foundation.

Earlier this year, TFAE donated $57,000 to educators at an additional nine public schools, distributing over $120,000 funds in 2022, and Barahona said the program is not finished. “TFAE has given well over $100,000 to almost 200 educators in nine different schools. These funds go directly to the teachers. Teachers can either be reimbursed for items purchased or can purchase what they need through the school’s purchasing policy,” Barahona added. TFAE is committed to providing our educators, our students and our schools the resources needed in the classroom. We want to minimize the cost teachers have to endure especially when so many of us are still rebuilding our homes after Hurricane Ida.”

Barahona expressed gratitude for the help of the community and the Bayou Community Foundation for their hand in helping breathe life into the classrooms of Terrebonne Parish schools. “It meant a lot for us to be able to do this for educators, so they wouldn’t have to spend their money to get the things they need for their classroom. It gets me teary-eyed when I talk about it because this is something that means a lot to our educators, that they have the support when they need it the most,” said Barahona.

Founded in 1991, the Terrebonne Foundation for Academic Excellence is a non-profit organization dedicated to recognizing the need to provide additional support to Terrebonne Parish Public Schools. Those interested in supporting the Adopt A Classroom program can email Ashlee Barahona at ashlee@tfae.org for more information.