Love's donates $120,000 to The Foundation for OKCPS

The "oohs" and "aahs" from Monta Johnson's fifth-grade classroom echoed down the hallways of Adams Elementary in southwest Oklahoma City Wednesday.

Her students had just received a new set of books thanks to a donation from Love's. The 90 copies of Elisa Carbone's "Blood on the River: James Town 1607" are but one result of the $120,000 given by Love's to The Foundation for Oklahoma City Public Schools.

"This shows there are lots of people who want to help our schools. We want to thank Love's and all the people in our community who want to help our classrooms," said Oklahoma City Superintendent Aurora Lora, who was in attendance at the classroom ceremony and celebration.

See also: Love's Community section

Johnson has taught fifth grade for four years of her six years as a teacher, and she was especially eager about this donation.

"I'm excited. This one was particularly exciting because I wasn't even close to my goal when that came in. Without books for every student, we can do a read-aloud but they can't interact with the text," Johnson said.

The donation stemmed from a corporate desire to step up and help Oklahoma City Public Schools after major financial cuts impacted the district, including the elimination of the entire library media budget for 2016-17.

"We saw a need for the basic building block of a solid education, and we realized we could make a difference," said Jenny Love Meyer, vice president of communications for Love's.

The money will go to the Foundation for Oklahoma City Public Schools, $50,000 of which is earmarked for DonorsChoose.orgprojects and Partners in Action initiatives. The other $70,000 will go to Oklahoma City's "Coat-a-Kid" program, which provides winter coats to students in need.

Blog Rewind: Love's donates coats to kids at elementary school in Oklahoma

Because classes started in Oklahoma City this week, Love's wanted to put the donation to work immediately. Four projects from the DonorsChoose.org were funded for the first week of school, including Wednesday's book delivery.

"New books show these students how much the community cares about them, and that allows them to stay engaged in learning," Johnson said.

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