Meadow Bridge Elementary School Monday was one of 50 schools nationwide to receive a $10,000 grant through the Goody’s Good Deeds for Schools program.

“When you’re getting $10,000, you have to be ecstatic,” said school principal Andrew Tokarz, of his reaction to the award. The school has plans to acquire a plasma television, laptop computers and what are known as Smart Boards. Tokarz said that he hopes to thereby better prepare his students for the 21st century.

“This is to help us get our foot into the 21st century. Students can start learning (with the laptops and Smart Boards) with numbers and letters. They’ll be more computer literate. The sooner we start on it, the better it will be. We want to prepare our kids for the global economy.”

As Tokarz explained, the plasma TV will sit in the school lobby. A PowerPoint program will operate from that and display upcoming school events.

“We will have better communication with parents and the community. A lot of times, they forget about things, like when report cards are coming out. It’s a really good tool to connect the school and the community together,” he noted.

Zenda Vance, who manages the Goody’s store in Beckley, was on hand for Monday’s ceremony. She said she relished the opportunity to give back to the community. “We understand that, for our community to be strong, our educational system must be strong. This is a way to give back to the community.”

According to Vance, Meadow Bridge Elementary School was the only school in West Virginia to win an award.

Goody’s Family Clothing, based in Knoxville, Tenn., received more than 1,000 applications for the awards. Of those, 350 finalists were selected by local store associates, and 50 winners were determined at the corporate level.

The grant program is designed to assist schools in Goody’s markets with paying for projects that are integral to enhancing educational experiences that the school would not otherwise be able to afford. Some examples include enrichment programs, updated textbooks and enhanced technology tools.

The Goody’s Good Deeds for Schools program is partially funded by proceeds from the sale of Ashley Judd’s clothing line, available exclusively at Goody’s.

“Knowing that schools are consistently under-funded, Goody’s store managers expressed an interest in creating a campaign to help their neighborhood schools, and thus Good Deeds for Schools was born,” said Mary Beth Fox, Goody’s vice president for marketing, strategy and planning.

“Goody’s and Ashley Judd are proud to support our local students and teachers through this program, which we believe will fit in nicely with our company’s long-standing mission to help children and families,” Fox added.

“Children are our future,” said Judd, in a prepared statement. “A good educational experience is their birthright. Fostering that notion is at the heart of this grant program.”

Grant applications went through two rounds of judging and were awarded based on compelling need (50 percent), effective and executable plan (20 percent), wise use of resources (20 percent) and collateral materials (10 percent).

— E-mail: mhill@register-herald.com