Passing a very big check: Ferry Beach Ecology School Executive Director Drew Dumsch (left), and Deb Kenney, Biddeford Intermediate School principal (right) receive a $10,000 Starbuck Foundation grant check from Marisa Stam (middle) the store manager of the Starbucks on Main Street, Saco, on the shores of Ferry Beach. The funds will be used to send local 5th graders for a program at the Ecology School this fall.

MAY 2007, SACO, MAINE:Biddeford Intermediate School and Loranger Middle School 5th graders will spend an overnight at Ferry Beach Ecology School this fall, thanks in part to a $10,000 grant from The Starbucks Foundation. An additional $2,500 from the Ecology Schools Program Fund for The ABCs of Environmental Literacy will also fund the trip.

This grant is wonderful on two counts because the Starbucks Grant not only supports our organization, it also supports the Saco Bay community and gives local school children the chance to explore and learn about their local environment,said Drew Dumsch, Executive Director of Ferry Beach Ecology School (FBES). Anytime we can teach local kids about their own Maine landscape as part of their regular school curriculum is a terrific thing, he said. Marisa Stam, store manager of Sacos Main Street Starbucks store echoed Dumschs comments and added, Were thrilled to be able to work with local schools and this grant is just another opportunity to make a difference in the community.

About 200 students from Biddeford and 50 students from Old Orchard Beach will stay overnight at the Ferry Beach Ecology School campus in September and take part in hands-on lessons at ecosystems including sand beach, dunes and forest. The school trip will also be an opportunity for the students to participate in the Food for Thought program during meals as well as bond with their classmates, teachers and parent chaperones.

The timing of the grant coincides with the recent publishing of FBES's 230-page teaching curriculum, The ABCs of Ecology: An Educator's Guide to Learning Outside - the content of which will be used in the newly funded programs during teacher workshops and at school assembly programs for the 4th grade classes.
The Starbucks Foundation Grant has awarded more than $12 million to more than 700 literacy and youth organizations throughout the US and Canada. The grants provide organizations support in the development of innovative learning opportunities for youth in arts and literacy and environmental education.