News By Readers
Town East Mall Partners with DonorsChoose.org to Celebrate Schools
By Debbie Screws
Published: Monday, October 1, 2012 8:42 AM CDT
Town East Mall is harvesting its passion for education, partnering with DonorsChoose.org <http://www.DonorsChoose.org> for its Celebrate Schools! Philanthropic initiative. The partnership is designed to shine the spotlight on the importance of a quality education and assist local area schools and teachers with much-needed supplies and funding.
Started in 2000 by social studies teacher Charles Best, DonorsChoose.org is an online charity that makes it easy for anyone to help public school students in need. The website is designed to connect individual donors directly with classrooms in need, grades kindergarten to high school. Teachers from every corner of America post classroom project requests on DonorsChoose.org. Requests range from pencils for a poetry writing unit, to violins for a school recital, to microscope slides for a biology class. Donors browse project requests and are able to donate any amount. Once a project reaches its funding goal, DonorsChoose.org delivers the materials to the school.
“The vision of DonorsChoose is a nation where students in every classroom have the tools needed to learn. Through this charity, we hope to make an impact in classrooms right here in our community. Learning and a love of learning starts in the classroom. We are pleased to support DonorsChoose and hope that all our shoppers will go to the website and see what the organization is all about,” said Chad Hastings, general manager of Town East Mall.
Town East Mall kicked off its DonorsChoose.org partnership on Tuesday, September 4. In addition, Town East Mall’s parent company is giving away $20,000 to one U.S. school that will be nominated by a Club member. Joining The Club is free, easy and Town East Mall is making it even easier by setting-up signing stations in the mall from now to Sunday, October 14 to allow a Club member to sign up and nominate a local school for the opportunity to receive a $20,000 reward. All eligible, nominated schools will be included in the national drawing held on Thursday, November 1, 2012.
On Saturday and Sunday, October 13 and 14, Town East Mall and local-area schools join forces to host a fun, in-mall event to Celebrate Schools! and the mall’s charitable partnership with DonorsChoose.org. All funds raised go directly to the participating schools for funding/supplies. To participate, contact Debbie Screws at 972.270.4431 or towneastadmin@ggp.com.
Become a fan of Town East Mall on Facebook. Town East Mall is at I-635 E (Lyndon B. Johnson Freeway) and Town East Boulevard. For information, visit www.towneastmall.com <http://www.towneastmall.com> or call (972) 270-2363.
Town East Mall is owned and managed by General Growth Properties, Inc. a fully integrated, self-managed and self-administered real estate investment trust (REIT) focused on owning, managing, leasing and redeveloping regional malls throughout the United States and Brazil. The Company currently owns, or has an interest in, 150 regional shopping malls comprising approximately 141.7 million square feet of gross leasable area. The Company is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, and publicly traded on the NYSE under the symbol GGP. For further information please visit www.GGP.com <http://www.GGP.com> .