Carolina Journal’s David Bass reports today on the latest uses of Golden Leaf grant dollars.
As part of 150 grants in the last cycle, the foundation gave $200,000 to the Rowan-Salisbury School System to purchase iPod touches for a high school. Students will use the iPods in conjunction with laptop computers.
“The nature of it is trying to look at the best way to use these devices, which are second nature to young people that age. That’s just how they learn,” said the foundation’s president, Dan Gerlach. “What they’re used to working with is a little different than what we’re used to working with.”
The foundation chose Rowan County because it’s adjacent to Cabarrus County, where the cigarette manufacturer Phillip Morris once had a plant, Gerlach said.
Golden LEAF also underwrote $50,000 to build nine yacht slips and reconfigure a kayak launch on the Roanoke River. The funds leverage more than a quarter-million dollars from the U.S. Department of the Interior.
“They’ve had people interested in yachts up and down the seaboard, and they would like a place to dock, and that would be a good place for them to locate,” Gerlach said.
