Alice Rogers

502-564-1792 ext. 4476

Alice.Rogers@ky.gov

A gift from the Steele-Reese Foundation gives schoolchildren from 27 southeastern Kentucky school districts an opportunity to visit the Kentucky History Center and their state capital city. Teachers in the designated districts may apply to the Kentucky Historical Society through their schools for Steele-Reese grants of up to $400.  Funds pay for the bus, the bus driver’s salary, substitute reimbursement, and any other expense that makes the trip possible. 

“We at the Kentucky Historical Society get to see the excitement and learning that happens when these students arrive after their long trek from southeastern Kentucky,” says Executive Director Kent Whitworth. “The Steele-Reese Foundation’s generous grant is a gift that provides connections to the past, perspective for the present and inspiration for the future to Kentucky’s children.”

During the 2003-2004 school year alone, the Steele-Reese Foundation provided funding for 15 school groups totaling 975 students to make the trip to Frankfort to tour the Kentucky Historical Society museums, including the Kentucky History Center exhibits, the Old State Capitol and the Kentucky Military History Museum. The grant program will continue through the 2005-2006 school year.

“The field trip was a great benefit to my students. Our guide was very energetic and very knowledgeable,” comments a teacher from Green Hills Elementary. “This field trip took many abstract ideas about government and history and made them concrete.”

This special initiative is for any public, private, or homeschools located within the following school districts: Bell County, Breathitt County, Clay County, Harlan County, Jackson County, Knott County, Knox County, Laurel County, Lee County, Leslie County, Letcher County, Magoffin County, Owsley County, Perry County, Rockcastle County, Whitley County, Wolfe County, Barbourville Independent, Corbin Independent, East Bernstadt Independent, Harlan Independent, Hazard Independent, Jackson Independent,  Middlesboro Independent, Pineville Independent and Williamsburg Independent.

The Steele-Reese Foundation, a trust for charitable purposes, was created by Eleanor Steele-Reese on August 10, 1955. The foundation makes grants to charitable organizations operating in the western states of Idaho and Montana, and in the Southern Appalachian mountain regions of Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, and northern Georgia. The foundation supports projects in education, health, social welfare, the humanities, and the environment.  To apply for a grant or for more information, visit http://history.ky.gov, or contact Jennie Boyd at 502-564-1792, ext. 4424.

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