Staff Writer

Jan. 20, 2000 10 PM

Students in the Troy City Schools will be benefitting from the generosity of one of the state’s largest companies.

Alabama Power Company representative Marshall Griffin of the company’s Ozark office presented the Troy City Schools Education Foundation with a $10,000 check Thursday afternoon.

"This makes so much possible," said Jean Laliberte, president of the Foundation. "The number of children’s lives that are changed is amazing."

Since its inception in the early 1990s, the Foundation has funded projects such as the Model United Nations, the Accelerated Reading program and a digital camera for the journalism program. Last year, alone, the Foundation gave out $12,000 in grants to teachers in the three-school system.

"We’ve tried to be equitable so it’s (the money) is spread out," said Troy City Schools Superintendent Hank Jones.

Both Jones and Laliberte said money spent on the Accelerated Reading program has been one of the Foundation’s best investments.

"One of the things it has done is significantly increase circulation in the library," Jones said.

Laliberte said "the single most important thing in somebody’s life is that they’re a good reader," and the Accelerated Reading program has helped do just that be providing incentives for reading books.

Through donations from the community and matches like the one given Thursday, grants provide a means for teachers to help their students learn more than they could find in textbooks.

Laliberte said it is important for the commu;nity to support the Foundation because the "children will make a difference in this community."

Jones said the Foundation continually works to increase the money in its account. The generosity of Alabama Power has helped a great deal, he said.

"We’ve been lucky because the leadership at Alabama Power believes public education is important," Jones said of the long-time partnershop between the school system and the utility company.

Griffin said it’s the Foundation that deserves all the credit.

"We’re just glad to be involved," Griffin said. "Alabama Power is glad to be a little part of what you do."

The matching grant money from Alabama Power comes from the Alabama Power Foundation, which was started in 1989 and is now the largest foundation in Alabama.