Remote learning certainly has its challenges. The days can seem long and isolated as parents try to navigate technology and content from home. Everyone needs a break – and what better than a lunch break for pizza? In order to support at-home learning as well as giving students and parents a break, local pizza restaurant, Portland Pie Company, is partnering with the Brunswick Community Education Foundation to help raise money to support innovative education projects.
Brunswick Community Education Foundation is a local non-profit that provides grants to Brunswick teachers and staff in all six schools in the Brunswick School District. It has been working with the district this year to address some of the exceptional challenges that 2020 has brought. In response, this school year the foundation has so far awarded over $14,000 in emergency grant funding for a dozen projects from take-home STEM project kits to virtual author visits.
Portland Pie has partnered with the foundation in the past through fund-raisers like their annual October event, “Decorate A Pumpkin,” where families pay $5 for a pumpkin to decorate while enjoying pizza. Pumpkins are supplied by Portland Pie and the proceeds are donated to the foundation.
And Bolos, the local Tex-Mex cantina and bowling restaurant owned by the same restaurateurs as Portland Pie, held a Bowl-a-thon last fall where families could bowl for $5, with proceeds going to the foundation.
“The owners of Portland Pie and Bolos have been amazing supporters of BCEF,” says board member Vlad Douhovnikoff. “We deeply value their support of our work to provide great educational opportunities for students in Brunswick.”
Portland Pie’s newest effort to raise money for the foundation began on Jan. 19, just after the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day holiday. Entitled, “Kids Eat Free,” the promotion happens every Tuesday and Thursday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. through the end of the school year. Kids get a free 10-inch cheese pizza when you order a 16-inch pizza. $1 from every pizza is then donated to the foundation.
“In the past, we have joined forces to plan activities and fundraisers for all ages to support the great initiatives that (the foundation) is responsible for,” said Cassandra Johnson, director of Events and Fundraising for Portland Pie Company. “Portland Pie values education and strives to contribute to non-profit foundations such as the Brunswick Community Education Foundation. Although these times are different, Portland Pie and (the foundation) have once again successfully teamed up to generate awareness, raise money and nourish children and their families within our community.”
So, if you and your student are in need of a little break and are also looking to support a local business, please join Portland Pie and BCEF every Tuesday and Thursday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and mention the phrase “BCEF Lunch”.
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