SPRINGFIELD, IL--(Marketwired - July 09, 2015) - Educators from California to Massachusetts will have new supplies to start the school year after Horace Mann donated more than $9,000 to complete 26 DonorsChoose.org projects. Horace Mann, an insurance and financial services company that works with educators to help secure their financial futures, funded the projects during the National Association of Elementary School Principals Conference in Long Beach, California and the National Education Association Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida last week.
"We donate to DonorsChoose.org projects as a way to support teachers in the classroom," said Horace Mann President and CEO Marita Zuraitis. "Teachers have told us they spend their own money on supplies. By removing some of that burden, we hope to enable them to direct that money to achieve their personal financial goals." In 2011, Horace Mann partnered with DonorsChoose.org, donating to teacher projects and assisting educators by teaching them about how to post a project.
Horace Mann completely funded Barbara Gibson's project. Gibson, a teacher at Macon-Hall Elementary School in Cordova, Tennessee, will receive new chapter books for her students. "My students tell me that they don't have books on their reading level at home so they are dependent on me to help them find appropriate resources," said Gibson in her project post. "When I open the box of new books, I can only imagine that their eyes will sparkle, and they will beg to be the first ones to dive into a new book."
Linda Nicolini-Boveda, a fifth grade teacher at Lydiksen Elementary School in Pleasanton, California, will be adding another iPad to her classroom so her students can easily split up into small groups to work on projects, after Horace Mann completed the funding on her project. "I want to incorporate more digital projects into my teaching because I have seen how engaged and excited kids are when they are collaboratively creating projects," said Nicolini-Boveda in her project post.
As the new school year approaches, many teachers are using DonorsChoose.org as a way to get supplies for their classroom, lessening the burden on their own pocketbooks. Horace Mann encourages every community to support educators and donate to a project on DonorsChoose.org.
About Horace Mann
Horace Mann (Horace Mann Educators Corp. (NYSE: HMN)) is the largest national multiline insurance company focusing on educators' financial needs. Horace Mann provides auto and homeowners insurance, retirement annuities, life insurance and other financial solutions. Founded by Educators for Educators® in 1945, the company is headquartered in Springfield, Illinois. For more information about the company, visit horacemann.com.
About DonorsChoose.org
Founded in 2000, DonorsChoose.org is a nonprofit website where public school teachers describe specific educational projects for their students, and donors can choose the projects they want to support. To date, more than 237,000 public and charter school teachers have used the site to secure funding for $330 million in books, art supplies, technology, and other resources that have supported 14.7 million students.