Pictured are staff from J.C. Parks and Indian Head
elementary schools, General Smallwood and Matthew
Henson middle schools, and Henry E. Lackey High
School. The schools each received a $5,000 grant from
Dollar General’s Literacy Foundation program. Pictured,
from left, in the back row are Parks Vice Principal Tynika
Lytle, Parks teacher Denise Pratt, Parks Principal Kristin
Shields, John Tompkins, an instructional specialist at
Henson, Indian Head Principal Toni Melton-Trainor and
Davita Stewart, a secretary at Smallwood. Pictured in
the center row are Parks teachers Mary Fenton, left,
and Sunshine Barton, right. Nealing down in the front of
the photo is Glenn Jones, a vice principal at Lackey.

Five Charles County public schools received $5,000 grants from Dollar General’s Literacy Foundation programs.

Indian Head and J.C. Parks elementary schools, General Smallwood and Matthew Henson middle schools and Henry E. Lackey High School received checks for the funds at a presentation ceremony held Tuesday, July 15, at the Bryans Road Dollar General store.

The program is funded directly through store donations and the Bryans Road store collected more than $32,211 in 2007, the highest amount collected in 8,200 stores located in 35 states. These Charles County public schools were chosen as grant recipients because they are located in the Bryans Road and Indian Head areas.

Indian Head’s Principal Toni-Melton Trainor accepted the grant for the school and plans to use the funds to support their parent library and purchase books for a student-exchange program and classroom libraries.

Kristin Shields, principal at Parks, along with staff members, accepted the donation on behalf of Parks and said she plans to use the grant to provide reading interventions to students.

Smallwood Principal Cynthia Baker said she plans to use the funds to purchase reading materials and incentives for students who are in need of additional reading assistance. The grant will also enable school to fund incentives for an annual reading contest to encourage reading. Davita Stewart, Baker’s secretary, accepted the grant on behalf of the school.

Lackey Principal James Short said he also plans to use the funds to support literacy initiatives throughout the school.

Dollar General launched the Literacy Foundation program in 1993 and donates grants to nonprofit literacy providers annually that total more than $1 million. For more information on other literacy programs supported by Dollar General, visit their Web site at www.dollargeneral.com/Community/Pages/GrantPrograms.aspx.