Lisa Floyd has been the Executive Director of the SMCF since 2008. In nearly a decade’s time, she has overseen tremendous growth in the outreach the foundation has accomplished.

“We have gone from right at $5 million to $8.5 million in terms of assets,” she said. “We have given out over $3 million in grants and scholarships, since the beginning of the foundation itself. We award about 65-70 scholarships every year.”

During the month of August, the foundation will have applications available for the Lapel teacher mini-grants, which have been in place since 2005, as well as the student enhancement grants for all area schools for a second straight year.

Floyd says the grants, which were set up by a donor from Lapel, can be applied for from August 1 to September 1 and have been used in several different ways.

“The teacher makes the application for classroom or school wide enhancements to benefit the students,” she said. “The Lapel High School purchased a 3-D printer. The Pendleton Elementary Primary was awarded funds to purchase materials for a mosaic that was the multiplication chart. The kids were participating in making the tiles.”

Floyd says information on those grant applications are available on the foundation’s website.