Thanks to Our Major Sponsors
More information coming:
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Follow this link to view the PIE Spring Luncheon Video!
The Virtual PIE Spring Luncheon, a recorded event, will be available for viewing beginning Friday, June 5th at noon. Some of you might not be able to view it at that time, so it will remain available for viewing on the PIE Facebook and Twitter accounts and on the PIE website. This is a free event, no pre-registration or tickets are required.
PIE Luncheon celebrates educators
with a “virtual” lunch in place event
Over 2,000 educators, community members, business leaders, and elected officials watched the Partners In Education Spring Luncheon on the afternoon of Friday June 5th, when the luncheon was released for viewing on Craven County Partners In Educations’ social media pages and website. The event was recorded and is still available online on the PIE website at https://cravenpartners.com/.
The annual event raises money for PIE grant programs in Craven County Schools. PIE is the local nonprofit support organization for Craven County Schools. During the event, PIE president David Baxter announced that PIE awarded more than $270,000 through a variety of grants and programs during the 2019-20 school year.
Dr. Curtis Jones, 2019 National Superintendent of the Year and Superintendent of the Bibb County School District in Georgia was the keynote speaker.
Dr. Jones began his career in education as a JROTC instructor with the Griffin-Spalding County School System in Griffin, Georgia. He became a high school principal and then advanced to assistant superintendent, then superintendent before going to Bibb County. Before his educational career, Dr. Jones served in the United States Army, retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel. He is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point and earned a doctorate degree in educational leadership from Nova Southeastern University.
He spoke about how our school staff, teachers, nutrition departments, custodians, and administration have had to put “mission first, people always” during a pandemic, to shift their way of thinking from just a few months ago. He asked, “how do we get better?” He believes that experiences create beliefs, those beliefs enforce our actions, and our actions get results. He said our students will remember their teachers who got them through this difficult time. He asked that we not let education come out of COVID-19 the same way it went in. We have an opportunity now to put in remote learning, to flip the classroom, and to be the facilitators of our students’ learning. This is a time to expand the way we look at education. His message was one of pride for teachers and what they have accomplished in such a short period of time.
The event featured Thomas Green, a rising senior at New Bern High performing the National Anthem with his father, Bill Green. Josiah Arnold, a rising senior at New Bern High performed an original piece, Simple Joy. West Craven High students Tabatha Wiggins, a rising senior at West Craven High performed Concertino Op. 107-Chaminade and Carson Lackey, a rising junior at West Craven High performed Centaurus by Vander Cook. Keith L. Davis, assistant principal J.T. Barber Elementary School performed a rousing rendition of You Are My Sunshine, dedicated to our teachers and staff.
After Dr. Jones spoke, it was revealed that PIE would offer a one-time grant of $2,000 to Craven County Schools principals for the 2020-21 school year in Dr. Jones’ honor for speaking. The focus of the grant will be STEM.
Viewers of the event were encouraged to take photos of themselves watching the event with the hashtag #VirtualPIELuncheon on social media to be eligible for door prizes.
Karen Jones won a $100 gift certificate to Morgan’s Tavern & Grill, Blair Dyal won a $100 gift certificate to The Chelsea, Salla Wagner and Laura Wilson each won a $25 gift certificate to Hobby Lobby provided by Charles Benson with Edward Jones, and Katie Bell won a $20 gift card to Target.
Shout out to Morgan’s Tavern & Grill and The Chelsea for providing a very special menu that allowed our attendees to #LunchInPlace!
This was PIE’s first virtual luncheon, and the 8th annual luncheon, raising over $25,000 for PIE’s grant programs.
Thank you to our sponsor for making this a FREE virtual luncheon!
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Morgan’s Tavern & Grill
Flips Out for
Pancakes for PIE to Benefit Partners In Education
On behalf of the board of directors of Craven County Partners In Education, thank you to everyone who attended our “Pancakes for PIE” event at Morgan’s on Saturday, December 7!
Through the generosity of Candice and Adam Simmons and their staff, we served over 550 delicious pancake breakfasts which included generous portions of pancakes, sausage, bacon, orange juice, and coffee.
Thank you to everyone who made Pancakes for PIE a tremendous success: The businesses who sponsored this event and everyone who so generously displayed our posters in their place of business and the people who liked and shared our event on social media. Also, the Sun Journal, WRNS, Bob 93.3, and WITN as our media partners continue to demonstrate their commitment to Partners In Education by playing a critical role in helping us get the word out!
This event would not have been as successful as it was without the extraordinary staff at Morgan’s and our remarkable volunteers! Everyone stepped up and did whatever it took to make this event work, and have fun while doing it! There was one point where we were so busy, it took the synergy of everyone working together to take the money, clean the tables, organize getting people seated, and serve the pancake plates. Then what did we do? Repeat above! It is when everyone comes together that a high energy event like this is amazingly successful!
Brandy Popp, Chair of the PIE Fund Raising Committee explained, “It is so very giving of Adam and Candice Simmons and their employees to provide the staffing, food, and venue for this event. We all know Morgan’s dishes up excellent food and our volunteers are always up for serving some ‘PIE’! We are absolutely thrilled Morgan’s hosted Pancakes for PIE and that so many people came to start their day with us and then spend it in beautiful downtown New Bern!”
Merry Christmas and a healthy and prosperous New Year to you and yours!
For more information about Pancakes for PIE, or other programs offered by PIE, contact Darlene Brown, Executive Director, Craven County Partners In Education, at 514-6321 or www.CravenPartners.com.
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To learn more about the grants offered through Partners In Education to our Craven County Schools teachers, go to the Grants section of this website.
Craven County Educators and Community Supporters
It’s Easy to Join to PIE!
Want to support our Craven County Schools teachers by helping to fund our grant programs? You can do so by joining PIE any time throughout the year!
All Craven County Schools teachers who are members of PIE earn one extra point added to the average of the reviewing committee members’ scores on their rubric for the PIE Grants, International Paper Grants, and the Twin Rivers Artists’ Assn. Grants.
Follow this link for more information on joining PIE.
We are pleased to offer a Sponsorship Program for our business partners!
To learn more about how your business can support PIE throughout the year, follow this link. This includes sponsoring the Spring Luncheon, Stuff the Bus, and the Book Drive. And by planning your sponsorship in advance, learn how your business can get a free ad on the PIE website and be featured on the PIE Facebook page!
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As school begins, school supply lists are made available to students & parents, but not all students are able to arrive on the first day of school with the items required to put them on the road to success.
To assist those students, PIE, in partnership with Craven County Schools, parked a bright yellow school bus in front of the 3 Walmart locations in Craven County on Aug 24. Generous shoppers donated school supplies for students who have been identified as in-need.
Over 205 volunteers from the schools & our community were on hand sorting & scanning items, & honking the horn of the school buses each time a donation was made as a way of showing thanks.
Fourteen businesses & organizations offered to be drop-off locations in advance of the event. Several businesses had school supply drives & delivered those items on the day of the event. With live radio remotes, sheriff & police department cruisers, & ambulances from CarolinaEast, we had a cool, fun & high energy day! Each donor received coupons from local businesses as a thank you.
We can’t finish tallying the numbers for the event because we keep getting donations! We are now over $70,000 in school supplies & sponsorships with approximately 38,000 items received!
Thank you to Walmart for letting us park our buses in fron
t of their stores, all of the volunteers, the bus drivers, our sponsors, & of course all of you who supported this event by making donations and volunteering the day of the event.
Particular thanks to the Marines from MCAS Cherry Point who worked the event, Caroline Godwin, William Bryant, Debra Hurst, Rebecca Lansche, Diane Bondurant, Mike McCoy, Paul Brown, Debbie Hodges, Lori, Sugg, Catherine Alligood, Ervin Patrick, & Kim Scott for acting as points of contact for their sites & Paul Tingle & Ashley Whitford for their coordination before, during & after the event.
We made our corner of the world a little better through Stuff the Bus.
If you would like to donate to Stuff the Bus, year-round, we accept school supplies at the Craven County Schools/PIE location, Central Services Office 3600 Trent Rd., New Bern.
Click here for a recommended school supply list.
(Note: It will appear in your download folder – click control “j” to view.)
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Support Craven County Schools through PIE’s Disaster Relief Program
A school supply list is available by following this link,
and is listed on the individual schools’ websites.
Donate online by following this link.
In the Fall of 2019, Hurricane Florence ripped through portions of Eastern North Carolina, dumping historic rainfall on Craven County. Thousands of homes were flooded.
During the Spring of 2020, Covid-19 forced our schools to close for the year, and teachers and students had to swiftly switch gears to online and remote learning.
There has been an outpouring of school supplies (can you ever really have enough?!), cleaning/sanitizing supplies, and personal care items. What we need now are gift cards for our teachers and schools to help them rebuild. Classrooms have to be rebuilt and remote learning deployed. We ask you to help us provide our students with a safe and inviting learning environment. You can send or drop off gift certificates at Partners In Education, 3600 Trent Rd, New Bern, NC 28562. Target, Walmart, Amazon, and Staples are the most practical. Please give in whatever denominations you are able.
You can also donate money online by following this link. If you would like your donation to be dedicated to a certain school, please indicate that in the comments section when you donate online.
For more information on how you can support PIE and our Craven County Schools, contact Darlene Brown at 514-6321, or at Darlene.Brown@CravenK12.org.
Partners In Education is a 501(c)3 nonprofit that provides grant funding and special programs to classrooms and schools within the Craven County Schools system.
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Shopping Amazon?
Be sure and enter Craven County Partners In Education as your AmazonSmile charitable organization! Amazon donates .5% of purchases to PIE.
#SupportPIE #TogetherWeArePartners
https://smile.amazon.com/ch/56-1335975
For more information about Partners In Education, our programs and grants, or how you can donate, call Darlene Brown, Executive Director of Craven County Partners In Education at (252) 514-6321 or email us at Darlene.Brown@cravenk12.org.
By working together we can all make a difference in education in Craven County Schools.
Craven County Partners In Education is a 501(c)3 Non-Profit Corporation, Tax ID #56-1335975 and donations are tax-deductible to the fullest extent of the law. Financial information about this organization and a copy of its license are available from the State Solicitation Licensing Branch at 919-814-5400. The license is not an endorsement by the State.