Today marks the start of the second year of Sonic Drive-In’s commitment to Limeades for Learning, a cause branding initiative that empowers consumers to direct more than $500,000 in grants to public school teachers nationwide. Thanks to Sonic ‘s renewed partnership with DonorsChoose.org, consumers can once again play an important role in funding classroom projects that inspire learning.
Engaging with Limeades for Learning is easier this year. Anyone with a valid e-mail address can take part by voting every day for a teacher’s project online at LimeadesForLearning.com. Another new addition is once 1 million votes or more are cast for Sonic Teacher projects by September 30, Sonic will unlock an additional $100,000 donation. That means an extra week of voting October 1–7. Teacher projects range from books and listening centers to microscopes and museum field trips. The projects with the most votes each week are awarded grants throughout the month of September.
In the first year of the program, Sonic and its franchise partners donated more than $635,000 to fund 1,457 teacher projects across the country. By October of this year, Sonic will have donated more than $1 million in supplies and learning materials over time.
“We were thrilled with the hundreds of thousands of votes cast for SONIC Teacher projects on LimeadesForLearning.com last year. Thanks to our great customers, we were able to impact many teachers and students,” says Clifford Hudson, chairman and CEO for Sonic Corp.
“In its second year, we believe that Limeades for Learning is gaining momentum and anticipate that we will make a difference in even more classrooms than we did in 2009. School districts across the country are challenged to provide materials for their classrooms as they’re faced with shrinking budgets. Sonic customers understand this and we want to help in any way we can.”
Once consumers vote for a teacher’s project online, they can send notices to friends and track the project’s progress to ensure it receives as many votes as possible for funding. An interactive map allows visitors to view the number of teacher projects and dollars donated in real-time nationally and by city or state. As of August 30, more than 6,000 teacher projects have been requested through Limeades for Learning.