Nearly 400 staff members receive relief grants
HISD Superintendent Richard Carranza and the Houston ISD Foundation are making the holidays a little merrier for several hundred members of Team HISD affected by Hurricane Harvey.
Earlier this week, about 400 staff members received an email and video from Carranza informing them that they were the recipient of a special grant to help them recover from the storm.
[photoshelter-gallery g_id=”G0000V.IvG7pSPHQ” g_name=”20171222-TeacherHarvey” width=”600″ f_fullscreen=”t” bgtrans=”t” pho_credit=”iptc” twoup=”f” f_bbar=”t” f_bbarbig=”f” fsvis=”f” f_show_caption=”t” crop=”f” f_enable_embed_btn=”t” f_htmllinks=”t” f_l=”t” f_send_to_friend_btn=”f” f_show_slidenum=”t” f_topbar=”f” f_show_watermark=”t” img_title=”casc” linkdest=”c” trans=”xfade” target=”_self” tbs=”5000″ f_link=”t” f_smooth=”f” f_mtrx=”t” f_ap=”t” f_up=”f” height=”400″ btype=”old” bcolor=”#CCCCCC” ]
“When I got the email, I just started crying,” said Booker. T. Washington High School clerk Kimberly Grover. “We lost everything in the storm, and I didn’t think my kids and I would even be able to have a Christmas, but because of this we will.”
During Hurricane Harvey relief efforts, the HISD Foundation set aside a certain amount of funds for the superintendent to use at his discretion. Carranza decided to distribute the funds to HISD staff members who were personally impacted by the storm and are still struggling to recover.
“While the funds are limited, I wanted to help as many members of Team HISD as I could, who despite their personal struggles, have maintained their unwavering commitment to serve HISD students and schools,” Carranza said.
On Friday, Dec. 22, employees picked up their grants, which came in the form of gift cards ranging from $250 to $5,000. While the superintendent couldn’t personally hand them out, recipients wanted to express their personal thanks to him.
“From the bottom of my heart, thank you” said Suzette Bradshaw, a clerk at Young Elementary School. “It’s just nice to know our leader cares about us and our well-being. We are so blessed.”