The nonprofit organization Partners in Education (PIE) has supported our three schools by giving grants to enrich  the classroom curriculum. On Oct. 6 to 8, PIE volunteers will be calling to ask for a donation. You can also donate at vashonpie.org. I urge you to visit their website to see the many good works PIE supports.

PIE has provided reading material to enrich the curriculum of the U.S. history class at Vashon High School. “The History of the Vietnam War” volumes 1 to 4, “Looking Like the Enemy,” “Narrative of a Slave,”  “The History of World War II in the Pacific” and “American Issues” — a collection of primary sources — are all paperback books I have, thanks to PIE. Several of these items, which are in use in my classroom today, were purchased in the early 1990s. Your donated dollars help students year after year.

Last year, when I could no longer scrounge used maps from private companies, PIE came to the rescue and gave me a grant to purchase 100 laminated maps of the United States, which are used in the classroom for reference and for a major project in the spring.

Think of the hundreds of students who have benefitted from your generosity. Thank you, my friends and neighbors.

— Martha Woodard