Spelling Bee To Be Buzzing for Charities

Come out and see who will be stumped at the .
The friendly competition, hosted for the third year by the East Windsor Education Foundation, will be 6 p.m. Thursday at .

Teams of three to five people can dress up, some wear antenna like bees or design team T-shirts, said foundation member Laura Foxx. Along with the entrance fee for the teams, money is raised by a raffle during the evening of gift baskets, gift certificates and other items donated by local businesses.

is sponsoring the event, donating the use of their facility and appetizers. Teams include the Growing Tree Child Development Center, the East Windsor Family Resource Center, the East Windsor Chamber of Commerce, and East Windsor school administrators.

Foxx said the teams receive a word list to study. For the first three rounds, all words are from the list and points are given to teams that get the most words correct. The final elimination round includes all teams and is a wild card round with unusual words.

The spelling bee is a team event, much like the East Windsor Education Foundation is a team effort of community members to raise money for education opportunities. Since it was incorporated in May 2006, the foundation has donated almost $20,000 to different East Windsor schools programs. Through a grant process, the foundation identifies different programs to fund in the spring and fall.

This spring, the grants also are open to community or civic groups for educational opportunities. Jim Richards, president of the foundation, explained this could be for the police or fire department for advance training, or for a program at the senior center, such as computer classes.
“We would provide seed money to get a program started,” he said. “We will continue to be involved in the schools as well. This helps provide educational opportunities for the community that the town budget can’t provide, especially in this economy.”

Applications are due May 2 for the spring grants.

Eleisha LeMay, an English teacher at the , helped students apply for a grant last fall for a Student Run Writing Center. They were awarded $1,500 after students met with the foundation to explain the program. It is expected to be open in a few weeks and will offer students help with writing from their peers.

“Our goal is to make better writers, not just better papers,” LeMay said. “Students will help them make changes and improvements that can apply for future papers as well.”

About 16 students have been involved in the planning stages and will be tutors at the center, which will be open to all high school students.

“The foundation has been great to work with,” LeMay said. “It is important to have an organization like this, especially with budgets getting cut. We have to get creative to fund projects.”

Foxx said Geissler’s Supermarket is the foundation’s primary benefactor, with almost $40,000 raised since November 2006. The foundation collects Geissler’s Supermarket receipts from community members, and the store donated 5% of every receipt over than $30, excluding tobacco and alcohol products.

Receipts and monetary donations can be mailed to East Windsor Education Foundation, 70 S. Main Street, East Windsor, CT 06088. Drop boxes for receipts are located in the East Windsor Town Hall, East Windsor Senior Center, Warehouse Point Library, Scantic Church, Enfield Federal Savings Bank in Broad Brook, Broad Brook Books and Stuff and in each East Windsor school office.