First Quarter 2024

We held a wonderful 20th Anniversary and Teacher Appreciation Celebration at Garlic Mike’s Restaurant in October 2023 which allowed us to thank our supporters, celebrate our successes after 20 years of volunteer service, and present the 2023-2024 Teacher Innovation Grant awards to our teachers in the Gunnison Watershed School District.

At the event, we were proud to share our progress and visions for the future with our guests.  One of our most important goals has been to get the word out to make the Gunnison Valley Education Foundation (GVEF) as well recognized for our passion for innovation and education as the “other” organization with an apple logo! Of course, they are not a nonprofit. 🙂 

GVEF is well on the way to becoming a household name here in the Gunnison Valley. We have tripled our networking endeavors and are focused on partnering with other nonprofits and community organizations. This allows us to provide expanded grant opportunities to teachers, enabling them to think even bigger.  We believe that when people recognize our logo, learn how their donations bring innovation into the classroom, and realize how our grants have impacted 14,000+ students since 2013, they will join in perpetuating our continued success.

When we were planning our 20-year celebration, we started reminiscing about some of the grants that helped purchase technology and equipment for the district. Are you thinking of some? In 2004, Kids Count funded the school library’s computerized cataloging system (finally moving away from the card catalog), and believe it or not, 12 Satellite phones for school buses! That was before that other organization, with an apple logo, introduced their cell phone:-) 

Today, we are awarding grants directly to teachers who are given the opportunity to actually implement their creative and novel teaching projects which often become part of the district curriculum.

STEAM Student Project

For example, the  STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering. Arts and Math) program as well as the ski and snowboard construction began with innovative ideas from incredible teachers.  These projects made such an impact on students the school district embraced them and created permanent learning spaces for them. Now they have expanded and will impact many more students for years to come.  Over the years, our grants have opened the world of design, outdoor education, musical instruments, theater, dance, physics and literacy to the children in our local schools.  If you, or a student you know has experienced the benefits of our grants and special projects, please share your stories with us.  We would love to hear from you!