The Alaska Community Foundation has established an endowment fund in honor of Anchorage School District Superintendent, Carol Comeau. Comeau is retiring after nearly 40 years with the ASD. The fund will help provide grants for projects that will directly impact students.
The Carol Comeau Endowment Fund will support the Anchorage Schools Foundation - which falls under the umbrella of the Alaska Community Foundation. Candace Winkler is the Executive Director of the Alaska Community Foundation.
"We have been so blessed to have a leader like Carol Comeau over the last 40 years in our community who really cares about the students and the Anchorage School District, and we really hope that people will consider making a gift to something that she cared deeply about and helping to grow this fund of private dollars that really can be utilized to try to improve the education for all of our kids."
Winkler says the grants of up to $500 each will help ASD educators purchase items to enhance learning.
"Creative things, for instance we had one classroom teacher who built solar suitcases with the students and then then they sent the suitcases to Sudan and Liberia to power a small medical clinic. Or we have another teacher who purchased a rice cooker and has rice in the back of the classroom so that when kids come into the classroom and they're hungry there's no stigma, they can go in an get a bowl of rice and make sure they have something in their stomach."
In addition, the funds will help students with emergency needs, like food, clothing and toiletries. As Comeau is passionate about young children, the fund will also support initiatives that focus on early childhood education. Comeau says she's honored and humbled by the creation of the fund. To learn how to make a donation to the Carol Comeau Endowment Fund, go to www.alaskacf.org. Comeau retires June 30.