The Elaine Avington Griffin Unsung Educators Scholarship honors the role that custodial, facilities, food service, transportation and maintenance employees play in the health and safety of our children every day. They aren’t the teachers and principals that we usually think of. They aren’t in the classrooms and their names don’t come home on paper in backpacks. Yet with every good meal, every safe bus ride, every day spent in a clean building that is comfortable summer and winter, they give our children their best chance to learn. These unsung educators are the people who literally create Loudoun Schools’ Climate for Success by making our schools safe and healthy.

Scholarship & Eligibility

To be eligible, the recipient must be the child of a full-time LCPS classified employee working in a custodial, facilities, food service, transportation or warehouse position. The parent must have been an LCPS classified employee in one of the eligible roles for at least five years. Selection Scholarships will be awarded based on financial need, history of community service and potential for advancement through higher education. Preference will be given to students who are the first in their families to pursue post-secondary education and based on length of parental employment with LCPS.

About Elaine Avington Griffin

Elaine Avington Griffin spent her exceptional life caring for people whom it is often easier to overlook. She was a teenage teacher in a one-room school house. As a young woman she pressed the West Virginia legislature to reform conditions in orphanages and mental institutions. She worked to end segregation in her community. She founded a real estate business in a college town that stands to this day, but let others concern themselves with the nice homes for professors while she helped those on the economic margins. Throughout a life that spanned the 20th Century, she focused on the needs of children in her community, remembered the forgotten and changed the world by caring for one person at a time.

Contributing

You can make a gift of cash, stocks, bonds, real estate, or other assets to the scholarship endowment. Most charitable gifts qualify for maximum tax advantage under federal law. Contributions can be made online, or to the address below:
EAG Unsung Educators Fund
c/o Northern Virginia Community Foundation
8283 Greensboro Drive
McLean, Virginia 22102

Something to last forever...

The Unsung Educators Fund is an endowment, a permanent fund that keeps donations forever and awards scholarships from the income that those donations earn. This means that your gift will award new scholarships year after year.

Partners

Northern Virginia Community Foundation

The Northern Virginia Community Foundation (NVCF) manages the Unsung Educators Endowment Fund. NVCF exists to build a stronger philanthropic community in Northern Virginia by growing community endowments, addressing community needs, and providing community leadership. Learn more about NOVA CF online at www.NovaCF.org.

Loudoun Education Foundation

LEF LogoThe Loudoun Education Foundation (LEF) manages the scholarship application, selection, award and distribution. The LEF mission is to strengthen the quality of Loudoun County Public Schools and to create new educational opportunities for our public school students. Learn more about LEF online at www.LoudounEducationFoundation.org.

LCPS Parent-Teacher Organizations

PTOs often wish to thank their support staff but aren’t sure how. Geographic, cultural and language barriers often stand in the way. With a gift to the Unsung Educators Fund, PTOs can express their appreciation to these important people in their children’s lives in a tangible, meaningful way. When a PTA makes a contribution, the LEF will notify those employees of the contribution to let them know that they are truly valued.

More Information

The first scholarship will be awarded in June 2009. Contact John Stevens by email at Stevens@LoudounSchools.org or call (703) 328-3782. The Unsung Educators Scholarship is not affiliated with Loudoun County Public Schools.