Chevron spent nearly $40,000 on marketing this month when, according to the Vashon-Maury Island Beach Comber, the oil company contributed “Chromebooks, a 3D printer, music keyboards, graphing calculators, books and more” to almost 20 teachers at public schools on the island of Vashon, in Washington state.
As a part of their Chevron Fuel Your Schools Campaign, the company partnered with online charity Donors Choose to donate up to $600,000 worth of educational items to teachers in Washington’s King County. As the Beach Comber explains, “this fall when customers purchased eight or more gallons of fuel at participating Chevron and Texaco stations in King County, Chevron donated $1 up to $600,000 to fund school projects registered with Donors Choose.” Unfortunately, the amount of gas pumped and the number of eligible applications only drove the oil company to donate $37,129 to 17 teachers on the island. Therefore, the potential amount of donations that Chevron will contribute to schools across the US, $8.6 million, may not actually be what the company donates.
As a result, the program, which saw 33 teachers in the county apply, funded projects that included five Chromebooks for Japanese and Spanish students, a 3D printer for science students to print models of their own design, and five iPad minis for a multi-age class. The District Superintendent, Michael Soltman, told the local paper, “It means a lot. It really validates teachers when they are able to communicate a need and have it fulfilled.”
So, in exchange for polluting the environment out of market-driven necessity, Washington teachers were able to make some small enhancements to the underfunded public education system. Happy New Year!
