LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Dozens of Lake County teachers are able to purchase needed student art supplies, thanks to the Teacher Art Supply Grants offered by the Lake County Rural Arts Initiative.

Forty grants have been awarded thus far and more will be given throughout the month of August.

During this time of distance learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic, students aren’t able to share classroom art supplies as usual and many families are unable to purchase them for the home.

Enter the Lake County Rural Arts Initiative, or LCRAI, which is offering $100 grants to Lake County teachers, enabling them to purchase basic art supplies for students such as crayons, construction paper, paint, and glue.

Art-related equipment purchases for the classroom and specialized project-based supplies are also funded by the grant.

This is the first time the Teachers Art Supply Grant has been offered by LCRAI. They hope to also offer grants in future years.

The grants are especially timely now that distance learning is in place in most Lake County schools, said LCRAI Board member and Arts in Schools Committee member Kim Lewis.

As of last week, they’d received 115 grant applications and were able to award 40 grants. Thanks to an anonymous donation of $1,500 and an ongoing fundraiser, they’re now able to fund more.

“We have received an overwhelming number of applications for the Teachers Art Supply Grant. We are hoping to raise more funds through our online and offline fundraising efforts, in hopes of awarding as many grants to teachers as we are able to. They are all so deserving,” said Lewis.

The Arts in Schools Committee is comprised of several board members who, along with LCRAI President Alicia Brisker, will vet and select grant recipients.

Any teacher serving transitional kindergarten through 12th grade students in a Lake County public or charter school (i.e., not privately funded) is eligible for a grant.

Grant applications are available on the LCRAI website and will be received throughout the month of August.

It’s their hope to fund each request received; however, that depends on the amount of money raised.

LCRAI was founded in February of 2018 by Lake County residents Martha Mincer and Connie Lemen-Kosla with the goal of making Lake County an arts and culture destination as a means to boost the local economy through tourism.

One such project, a mural trail, has been installed by five local artists. Murals are located in Kelseyville, Lakeport and Clearlake and the trail will be updated with more locations added in the future.

A second mission of LCRAI is integrating arts for children into the community and Lake County schools. Research shows that participation in the arts by children and teens raises self-esteem as well as their classroom grades in other subjects.

In the past, the LCRAI has sponsored a kids’ mural station at the Kelseyville Pear Festival and children’s craft activities at the holiday fair at the Twin Pines Casino in Middletown.

To learn more about the LCRAI, its mural trail or to apply for or donate to the Teacher Art Supply Grants, visit the group’s website or Facebook page.

The LCRAI is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and all donations are tax-deductible.

Esther Oertel is a writer and food columnist for Lake County News. She lives in Middletown, Calif.