Raleigh, N.C. —North Carolina’s Touchstone Energy cooperatives will host the eighth annual Touchstone Energy Bright Ideas education grant awards luncheon on Friday, Nov. 19 at the Hilton North Raleigh/Midtown. During the luncheon, nearly $175,000 in grant money will be distributed to 150 teachers from the Triangle and surrounding areas.
“The Bright Ideas luncheon is an opportunity for us to recognize area teachers whose commitment to education and their students has earned them grant funding for a classroom-based project that would otherwise be paid for from their own pockets or not be possible,” said Nelle Hotchkiss, Senior Vice President of Corporate Relations for North Carolina’s Association of Electric Cooperatives.
The luncheon will include a keynote address delivered by Mike Robbins, who has inspired tens of thousands of people to reach new levels of awareness and success, both personally and professionally. He has worked with some of America’s top organizations including, Google, AT&T, Apple, Wells Fargo and many others. Mike is the author of two best-selling books, Focus on the Good Stuff and Be Yourself, Everyone Else is Already Taken and will stress to teachers the importance of appreciation and authenticity to reach success.
The program will begin promptly at 11:30 a.m. on Friday in Grand Ballrooms 4 and 5 of the Hilton North Raleigh/Midtown. The hotel is located at 3415 Wake Forest Road, Raleigh, NC 27609.
Winning teachers attending the luncheon are from Johnston, Harnett, Cumberland, Sampson, Bladen, Duplin, Pender, Lee, Chatham, Moore, Alamance, Orange, Person, Durham, Caswell, Granville, Franklin, Vance, Nash, Wake, Craven, Lenoir, Pitt and Wilson counties.
The Bright Ideas grant program awards grants of up to $2,000 to North Carolina teachers for creative, classroom-based projects. Since the program’s inception in 1994, North Carolina’s Touchstone Energy cooperatives have awarded more than $7.1 million to NC teachers. The Bright Ideas program has reached more than 1.2 million North Carolina students in all subjects including math, reading, science and technology, music and the arts. This year cooperatives across the state will distribute more than $590,000 to deserving teachers.
Sponsoring the grants recognized at the awards luncheon are South River Electric Membership Corporation (EMC), Dunn; Four County EMC, Burgaw; Wake EMC, Wake Forest; Piedmont EMC, Hillsborough; Central EMC, Sanford and North Carolina EMC, Raleigh.
The Bright Ideas education grant program is another example of the state’s electric cooperatives’ commitment to community. North Carolina’s electric cooperatives serve 2.5 million people in 93 of the state’s 100 counties.