Grant awarded locally

Photo by Christy Porter
Presenting Toni Melton (center), Triple A Catering instructor and Licking R-8 Classroom Aide, with a Maggie Elder Memorial PEERS/Support Staff Grant is Wilda McNeil (right), MRTA-IPS and Texas County Retired Teachers Association. She, with Cristina Wright (left), Licking R-8 Superintendent, graciously accepted on behalf of the school.

By Christy Porter, Managing Editor

Toni Melton, Triple A Catering instructor and Licking R-8 Classroom Aide, applied for a $500 grant with the Missouri Retired Teachers Foundation Maggie Elder Memorial PEERS/Support Staff Grant Program and she, with the Licking R-8 School, were the happy recipients of the grant and an award certificate on Thursday morning.

The grant application was made to purchase equipment for the Triple A Catering program, which is in its third year. It is a school function for students to learn life skills in the preparation of food.

“The kids submit a menu, find recipes, make a grocery list, and at times go to the grocery store to purchase the food items, and they always do price comparisons in store or using the receipt. They prepare the meal at school and then may sell it to the teachers. Their lesson continues throughout, to actually making change for the purchase transaction,” explained Melton.

This year there were nearly 50 applications for 10 grants that were to be awarded. “Melton submitted a well prepared and well written grant request for equipment that would be used ongoing, more than one year, to teach students life skills,” said Wilda McNeil, Missouri Retired Teachers Association Regional Chair for Information and Protective Services Committee (MRTA-IPS), Region 10. “As a member of the Texas County Retired Teachers Association I am pleased to present this grant to someone in our local area.”