Jason Goodgame, president of the Pell City Schools Educational Foundation, spoke to the Rotary Club on Tuesday to share information about grants that had been given to schools within the last year. John Rae, on behalf of the club, presented Goodgame with a check for $500 to go toward the foundation.

Goodgame is also the senior project executive and corporate vice president of the Goodgame Company. His most current project is overseeing construction for the St. Clair County Commission for the new St. Clair County jail.

Goodgame said Pell City has great students, facilities that are improving and dedicated teachers. However, there’s a big need to help teacher develop their classrooms.

“When you get down to it, you always know that your teachers are taking money out of their pocket to make their classroom work.,” said Goodgame. “The foundation was set up to fund some of those issues.”

According to Goodgame, the foundation has raised between $30-40 thousand per year. Over time he said the foundations total funds equal around $930,000. His goal is to get to a $1 million before he retires. 

In the last year the foundation received 137 requests, totaling to $41,800. They were able to fund 88 of those grants, totaling to $23,621. Coosa Valley schools received the most grants, totaling $5282 for elementary and $7068 for high school.

“You’ll hear teachers talk about that we only fund elementary, the cute stuff, which is really not true, the problem is that when kids get older, they need more money,” said Goodgame.

Goodgame said this made the foundation change the program standards nine years ago. Now, elementary schools can get $500 per grant and high schools can receive $750 per grant.  Grant applications are reviewed in October, and after they are graded and ranked on a scale, winners are notified in November. 

A majority of the money in the foundation, estimated at $11,000, has come from t-shirt sales, which take place at the beginning of each school year.

Goodgame said donations also come from water bills. Residents of Pell City can opt into donating to the foundation a chosen amount each month. From that initiative, they raise $1900 a year. Contributions can also be made through Amazon purchases where buyers have an option to donate a percentage of their purchases to a charity of their choosing. 

The foundation was established in March of 1992 by Pell City leaders in business, education and community development. They worked to create a relationship between local business, organizations and individuals and the education system. Goodgame has been a member of the board since 2005.

More information can be found on the Pell City Schools Educational Foundation, Inc. Facebook page.