• Asheville Middle School – AMS Sixth Graders will take a field trip to the Asheville Treetop Adventure Park this April. Students will have a chance to challenge themselves on over 77 unique climbing, rolling, walking, jumping, swinging and rappelling course activities. The funding from Go Local will help offset the costs of the field trip including transportation and entrance fees. The trip is an opportunity to build community and increase positive energy to finish the year off well. This will be the first field trip for all of the AMS sixth graders this year (and most likely, in the last 2 years!).
• Asheville Primary – Go Local funds will help support school shirts for all students, classroom materials, field trip requests, Teacher Appreciation activities, and end of year celebrations.
• Claxton Elementary – Funds are earmarked for their first-floor rotunda mural.  Ian, a local artist who will paint the mural, will incorporate the ideas and artwork of about 120 Claxton students on the mural development.  With left over funds, they’ll support Claxton’s Social Justice League efforts, which is a full-day training for all new Claxton staff.
• Hall Fletcher Elementary – The funds are being looked at for student/family support, teacher appreciation, helping to fund the Garden Director position, and if needed, to help underwrite the trip to Dallas, TX for the Hall Fletcher Robotics Team to participate in the World Championships.
• Lucy Herring Elementary – The funds will be used to support their school garden program. In conjunction with FEAST, this garden is the heart and soul of their School of Ecology. These donations also provide additional funds into teacher appreciation as a way of supporting teachers through this challenging year. And they provide direct support to students in the form of holiday meals, winter coats, and other items for students in need.
• Ira B. Jones Elementary – They’re using the funds on their 3-5 playground, items such as playground equipment and tables to improve students’ recess and outdoor experience.
• Isaac Dickson Elementary – Funds will contribute to the creation of a Serenity Garden. Due to COVID, more and more children are experiencing mental health issues and acting out in class. The garden can serve as a place to re-set in a safe and calm environment. In addition, they’ve earmarked allocations to Teacher Appreciation Gifts and Emergency Funds for Families.
• Montford North Star Academy – Funds will help support the $100 stipends teachers receive for supplies for every classroom
• Asheville City Schools Foundation – Funds are dedicated entirely to the IRL (In Real Life) after school program for all of Asheville City School middle school students.

This is merely a sampling of how proceeds are planned to be spent. Without exception, the coordinators have shared how important these funds are to the schools and how appreciative they are to be the recipients. As with most things in life, it takes a village to raise these funds. And to our village:

• Thank-you to our business partners who sell the cards. Their sales represented $10,000 or 37% of the total contribution in February.
• Thank-you to our schools’ PTO coordinators, school teachers and staff who spearheaded fundraising efforts using the cards.
• Thank-you to our over 550 business members who honor the card with discounts and perks and makes the card so valuable to our community.
• Thank-you to everyone out there who bought a card for yourself, your family, your friends, co-workers, and employees.

Without exception, you are all rock stars and we love you!