Northeast D.C. community’s Aiton Elementary School has been awarded a $10,000 grant from the Washington Redskins football team. The grant was announced on Sunday evening as the team played against Dallas Cowboys.
The Washington Redskins Charitable Foundation announced at half time of the game that 40 teachers and staff members from different schools won the grant.
The Elementary school intends to make a Loads of Love (LOL) laundry center from the grant which will allow parents and community members to wash and dry their clothes.
“The cleanliness of clothes should never obstruct a student’s opportunity to receive an education, and with the addition of this laundry center, we have eliminated this enormous obstacle. We expect this to transform the educational experience of families for many years to come,” said Alejandro Diasgranados, third grade teacher at the Aiton Elementary school.
When Diasgranados came to know of the grant on offer from the Washington Redskins, he applied for it, seeing it as an opportunity for the welfare of all students in the school. Since Aiton Elementary School has a partnership with the football team, he knew the grant will provide more opportunities for his students. He wanted every student in the school to have equal access to multiple uniforms, washers and dryers.
Aiton Elementary School, according to the principal, apart from offering extracurricular activities like soccer, tennis and basketball, provides all children with a “rigorous, differentiated academic program that will enable them to be successful in middle school and beyond.”
Since its start in 2000, Washington Redskins Charitable Foundation has donated more than $16M to the community, mostly for educational purposes, and also for community outreach, health and wellness.