By Hannah Curran, Editor
TRUSSVILLE — Magnolia Elementary School (MES) special education teacher received a grant from Valluzzo Companies’ Teacher of Impact Program on Friday, January 28.
Fran Box at MES received a $1,000 grant from Valluzzo Companies for her classroom. As a result, she has ordered supplies and educational materials for her students presented to Box at the ceremony today.
“This means the world,” Box said. “I was very humbled to be nominated by Stephanie and Rob Langford. Just the impact that this is going to have on my classroom and my school is, is amazing. To have this grant money to get the things that we need to go the extra mile with our students is just unbelievable. I ordered a variety of things from books, math, manipulatives, a new laminator, earbuds for technology, and we ordered sensory things for the students to be able to have sensory breaks, just a wide variety of teaching tools.”
Valluzzo Companies, Nick Valluzzo, an owner and operator for McDonald’s in the greater Birmingham area, presented the grant to Box. Valluzzo explained that the Teacher of Impact Program was a way to acknowledge teachers, faculty, and staff that have had a positive impact on students and their families.
Box had been nominated by one of her student’s parents after their incredible experience at MES and was one of the numerous teachers nominated from across the Greater Birmingham area. Valluzzo Companies allowed the community to comment and vote on the Facebook post made for each Nominee. The teacher, faculty, or staff member with the most votes won.
“Ms. Box had a lot of nominations,” Marketing Coordinator at Valluzzo Companies, Morgan McLean, said. “She had a total of 600 plus votes on the Facebook posts that we did. She had a lot of votes, a lot of comments, a lot of people supporting her.”
McLean explained it was “a very beautiful and inspiring thing to see how everybody in the community just kind of supported” the Teacher of Impact Program.
The nomination post for the Teacher of Impact Program states that Box is “truly one of a kind” and “was a reading intervention teacher for many years and just came back into a classroom. She has done a phenomenal job of transitioning into her new role and getting to know her students and parents.”
“It’s super important for me as a parent that these teachers have the correct tools and the correct support from not only their district but add that to local community support from businesses,” Valluzzo said. “So we recognize this as a great opportunity to join in a very special partnership.”
Valluzzo asks if you want to be involved with Valluzzo Companies, please contact Morgan McLean at Morgan.McLean@vallcomp.com or call (205) 584-0114.