Huntsville, AL – Schwarze Industries is proud it was a sponsor of the Paper Chase 5K Race held by Free 2 Teach in Huntsville, AL on Saturday, February 27th.

Students need supplies to learn, teachers need tools to teach and our community needs young people to drive our future. Free 2 Teach is the connection point for these needs.

Free 2 Teach provides free resources to teachers in Madison County’s three public school systems. These resources are available to more than 3,800 full-time classroom teachers and their 52,000 students, improving the educational experience of our children and strengthening our community’s future workforce.

5krace

The weather was perfect and nearly 200 runners of all ages participated in the 5k Race, including 32 students, numerous teachers and even a few Schwarze employees. There were prizes for Overall Male & Female, Overall Male & Female Master (40 years and older), and prizes for the top 3 finishers of each age group from 0-9, 10-14, 15-19 all the way to 65-69 and 70+

Over $25,000 was raised in the event.

About Free 2 Teach

Two friends, one a retired school teacher, were volunteering at a holiday gift drive when they noticed a collection bin full of school supplies. These friends began discussing how wonderful it would be for teachers to have access to supplies like these for their own classrooms and students. It was December 2009, and the seed for Free 2 Teach was planted.

Free 2 Teach Executive Director, Eula Battle, was the retired teacher working at that holiday gift drive. She knew all too well the dilemma that many teachers are in, spending more and more money out of their own pockets to compensate for the dwindling funds allocated from the state’s budget for classroom supplies.

To address this growing problem, surplus and out-of-date supplies were collected from local businesses, including old letterhead, envelopes, binders and more. Initially, the supplies were stored in Eula’s garage. Today, a brick and mortar Free 2 Teach Store operates from a 10,000 square foot combined retail and warehouse space, providing free supplies to all full-time classroom teachers in Madison County’s three public school systems: Huntsville City, Madison City and Madison County.

For more information about Free 2 Teach please visit http://www.free-2-teach.org/

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