In an effort to honor the extraordinary work teachers are doing and the impact they continue to have on students, the Austin Ed Fund, Austin ISD’s nonprofit public education foundation, is launching the #thankyouteachers campaign to celebrate, support and bring together a community of AISD teachers as they are all working apart.
During and after Teacher Appreciation Week, May 4-8, Austin Ed Fund hopes to shine a light on the importance of social connection and relationships and how teachers are connecting with students. AISD parents and community members are invited to share inspiring teacher stories via the #ThankYouTeachers survey at https://bit.ly/3bVHna5 or post on social media using #ThankYouTeachers and tagging @AustinEdFund. Gifts to the AISD Crisis Support Fund may be made in honor of a teacher or AISD staff member, and the person honored will receive notification of the gift.
Additionally, to support teachers, Austin Ed Fund will provide all AISD classroom teachers with a $50 Amazon voucher to use in direct support of their personal well-being and remote learning with students.
“Now more than ever we are clear on the important role teachers play in the lives of our children,” says Michelle Wallis, executive director of Austin Ed Fund. “We are inspired by their care and compassion and all they are doing to stay connected with our students during this crisis. We want teachers to know that our community supports them, and we are grateful to the over 500 donors to the AISD Crisis Support Fund for stepping up to support our students, staff and families during this time.”
Together with the district, the Austin Ed Fund created the AISD Crisis Support Fund – an effort to support our school communities by supplementing access to food services, health programs and remote learning. Thanks to generous donations, the fund has supported some of the most immediate needs, including the following:
- Meal Service: AISD’s Food Service Team continues to feed our students at over 70 sites around Austin, providing up to 10,000 meals per day. The fund supports the increased costs of this service including the possible resumption of caregiver meals.
- Telehealth Medical Appointment Fees: The fund is providing fee vouchers for telehealth visits for families who are uninsured and do not qualify for free/reduced meal benefits or Medicaid.
- Translation and Interpretation Services: The fund is increasing the district’s capacity for on-demand and rapid response translation and interpretation services for our families who speak over 100 different languages.
- Support for Remote Learning: The fund is supporting costs for district-wide license for SeeSaw, an online learning platform for PreK-2nd grade students, and tablets for PreK-2nd grade students.
- Teacher Support: The fund is making it possible for all 5,500 AISD teachers to receive Amazon gift vouchers to support remote instruction and their well-being.
The Austin Ed Fund continues to closely monitor the greatest needs and respond. We are grateful to the over 500 donors who have supported the AISD Crisis Support Fund to-date including H-E-B, Samsung, Google/Google Fiber, National Instruments, Wells Fargo, the Whole Kids Foundation and the Jedel Family Foundation. For a list of major donors, please visit https://austinedfund.org/crisis-fund-supporters/. Donations can be made online at www.austinedfund.org/crisis-support-fund/.
