Union County Review

Panda Cares Foundation awards $30,000 grant to support Boys & Girls Club’s academic success programs.

The board and staff of Boys & Girls Clubs of Union County are pleased to announce that the Panda Cares Foundation has awarded the local organization with a grant for $30,000. The purpose of this grant is to support in-person academic success programming at the Clubs, including: Project Learn, Power Hour, Summer Brain Gain and STEM programming at the Union, Elizabeth and Plainfield Club locations.

“We are so thankful that Panda Express ‘cares’ for our kids!” said Russell Triolo, Chief Executive Officer “Their support will help us implement daily homework help and tutoring programs for youth at all our sites, which will keep them on track for academic success.”

Triolo said that Panda Care’s support will also help fund hands-on, fun learning activities that take place daily at the Clubs, including STEM activities like science experiments, engineering projects, technology-based activities like simple coding and more.

“Everything we do at the Club is to reinforce the learning that is taking place in school and to expose youth to career opportunities to build their futures,” said Triolo.

Since 2020, the Panda Cares Foundation, the charitable arm of Panda Express has partnered with Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) to foster academic success for America’s youth at Clubhouses across the country, providing more than $13 million in funding as well as in-kind donations of books, meals and more to support the academic wellbeing of Club youth.

With the reality that not all youth have access to quality education, Panda has aligned with BGCA to give youth the equal opportunity to learn, lead and thrive for better lives. With this initiative, Panda has also aligned with BGCA’s strategic plan to increase the quality of academic success programming in Clubs.

In 2021, Panda Cares became the largest single-year corporate partner with an investment of $8.785 million. Through Panda Cares’ investment, Clubs receive funding to provide high-quality academic programming to youth in need. Through this partnership, Panda Cares and BGCA will empower thousands of youth at Boys & Girls Clubs across the country to excel in school, character and leadership.

Original source can be found here.