Farmers Insurance® Honors Teachers Across the Southeast With $85,000 in Educational Grants

WOODLAND HILLS, Calif., Dec. 11, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Farmers Insurance^® announced that more than 30 teachers across the Southeast received $85,000 in educational grants as part of the insurer group's Thank America's Teachers^® program that seeks outstanding educators who are making a difference in their communities. Each teacher received a $2,500 grant, which will help fund a wide-range of projects from increasing the technology available to students in classrooms to expanding student-run gardens.

"Most of us can think of a teacher who has inspired us, driven us and helped shape us into the people we are today," said Tu-Han Phan, managing lead of Thank America's Teachers. "The teachers honored are committed to helping their students become smarter and better prepared for the future, and Farmers Insurance is proud to invest $85,000 to enhance the learning experience for those students."

The honorees announced today are represented across several Southeastern states, including Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina. Grants will go to teachers and students at both public and charter schools and across all ages and grade levels, from elementary and primary all the way to preparatory and high school programs. The grantees include:

• Molly Ahearn, Partin Elementary School (Oviedo, Fla.)
• Melanie Arrington, Elm Street Elementary School (Rome, Ga.)
• Emily Beech, Christa McAuliffe Elementary School (Palm Bay, Fla.)
• Tommie Branscum, Spring Hill Elementary (Knoxville, Tenn.)
• Shelby Bridges, Inverness Primary School (Inverness, Fla.)
• April Bryant, McColl Elementary Middle School (McColl, S.C.)
• Hillary Capes , McEwen Elementary (McEwen, Tenn.)
• Jillian Cappola, Henry L. Sneed Middle School (Florence, S.C.)
• Yvonne Cosme, Southwest Elementary School (Lexington, N.C.)
• Kim Cunningham, Welleby Elementary (Sunrise, Fla.)
• Kimberly Dier, Sorrento Elementary School (Sorrento, Fla.)
• Adrienne Duncan, Eustis Heights Elementary (Eustis, Fla.)
• Mitzi Glasgow, Winder Elementary School (Winder, Ga.)
• Elizabeth Golem, Imagine South Lake Charter (Clermont, Fla.)
• Ashley Greenway, Elm Street Elementary School (Rome, Ga.)
• Sandra Harris, Northside Elementary School (Elizabeth City, N.C.)
• Christi Hepburn, Minneola Elementary Charter School (Minneola, Fla.)
• Melanie Hinton, Winder Elementary School (Winder, Ga.)
• Taylor Hodges, James A. Shanks Middle School (Quincy, Fla.)
• Thais Jefferson, Memphis College Preparatory School (Memphis, Tenn.)
• Jennifer Loeffler, Elizabeth City Pasquotank Early College (Elizabeth City, N.C.)
• Dawn Mauldin, Astatula Elementary School (Astatula, Fla.)
• James McLees, Cedar Bluff Middle School (Knoxville, Tenn.)
• Richard Parsons, Herbert Hoover High School (Elkview, W.Va.)
• Jisha Patel, Memphis College Preparatory School (Memphis, Tenn.)
• Tori Phipps, Greenwood Elementary (Florence, S.C.)
• Torie Ponder, Winder Elementary School (Winder, Ga.)
• Martha Preller, Treadway Elementary School (Leesburg, Fla.)
• Tammy Privette, Winder Elementary School (Winder, Ga.)
• Jose Ramos, Beaumont Magnet Academy (Knoxville, Tenn.)
• Diane Rohrer, Winder Elementary School (Winder, Ga.)
• Heather Ryder-Hill, Village Elementary School (Sunrise, Fla.)
• William Ward, Carver Elementary (Florence, S.C.)
• David Wilkie, Boiling Springs Intermediate School (Boiling Springs, S.C.)

Through Thank America's Teachers, Farmers^® has invested more than $3 million dollars in educational grants since 2014. Farmers encourages all teachers to apply and will start accepting proposals for the 2018 program beginning in mid-January.

About Thank America's Teachers
Through Thank America's Teachers, Farmers has invested over $3 million dollars in educational grants since 2014. The public helps determine who receives the grants at ThankAmericasTeachers.com. Farmers awards 180 grants valued at $2,500 throughout the year, in addition to the five $100,000 Dream Big Teacher Challenge^® grants, awarded at the end of this year.

About Farmers Insurance
"Farmers Insurance^®" and "Farmers^®" are tradenames for a group of affiliated insurers providing insurance for automobiles, homes and small businesses and a wide range of other insurance and financial services and products. Farmers Insurance is proud to serve more than 10 million households with over 19 million individual policies nationally, through the efforts of more than 48,000 exclusive and independent agents and approximately 21,000 employees. Farmers Insurance Exchange^®, the largest of the three primary insurance insurers that make up Farmers Insurance, is recognized as one of the largest U.S. companies on the 2017 Fortune 500 list.

For more information about Farmers Insurance, visit Farmers.com, Twitter and Instagram, @WeAreFarmers, or Facebook.com/FarmersInsurance.

SOURCE Farmers Insurance