PALMco Raises Additional $25,000 for Environmental Science Classroom Projects Through DonorsChoose.org

BROOKLYN, NY--(Marketwired - Jun 17, 2014) -  PALMco, a family owned and operated energy supply company, announced today that it has raised an additional $25,000 for environmental science classroom projects through DonorsChoose.org, a non-profit crowd funding platform where teachers can request classroom resources. The combined $50,000 donated by PALMco and 600 individual donors successfully funded 95 projects and reached over 7,500 students in low-income schools in Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.

In April, PALMco launched a $25,000 "Double Your Impact" fundraising campaign through DonorsChoose.org; once qualifying projects were half funded by individual donors, PALMco's campaign funded the remaining half. The "Double Your Impact" offer applied to environmental science projects with a total cost of $1,500 or less from schools in underserved communities in the six states in which PALMco operates.

"Finding ways for people to live sustainably on Earth is becoming more urgent every year, and we believe that the first step is to provide our children with the necessary intellectual tools to learn about the environment and the importance of conserving nature," said Robert Palmese, President of PALMco Energy. "We thank DonorsChoose.org and the brilliant teachers for giving us the opportunity to give back, but we could not have reached all these students without the generous support from the 600 individual donors. This was a truly collaborative effort, and we are excited to see how these creative environmental science projects will impact the students."

"Many people sit back and talk about how hard it is for teachers to capture the attention of today's students to important things such as environmental science. But then there are companies like PALMco that sit up and take action and empower teachers like me to reach every child and encourage them to dive into environmental science. Their donation and work is so powerful -- I teach language arts, but through their support, my reading classroom has gone green! Students have been so excited to read about and learn about all the things that they ingest and put into their bodies! I am excited because we are now able to extend this project to the next school year! PALMco has placed the power of learning back into hands of my students," said Rachel D. Blanks, a fourth grade teacher who has created a greenhouse with her students through funds from PALMco and individual donors.

"We're so very grateful that PALMco is helping teachers bring environmental science to life for their students," said Charles Best, founder and CEO of DonorsChoose.org. "These students are the scientists and energy leaders of the future, so it's critical that they have the classroom resources they need to succeed."

The DonorsChoose.org partnership is part of the "PALMco Cares" initiative, a larger effort to give back to the communities in which PALMco operates and allow customers to make an impact on the lives of others by simply paying their energy bill. In December 2013, PALMco launched "PALMco Cares" with the American Childhood Cancer Organization (ACCO). For every new customer who participates, PALMco donates $1 every month to ACCO for each gas and/or electric account, with no limit to how much can be donated.

For more information on the environmental science projects PALMco funded, please visit http://bit.ly/1jRpBBC.

About PALMco Energy
PALMco Energy is a family owned and operated energy supply company (ESCO) that supplies electricity and gas in Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. Our family has been in the energy business for 75 years, and we dedicate ourselves to providing quality service, customer satisfaction, dependable energy, and competitive prices. For more information, please visit www.palmcoenergy.com.

About DonorsChoose.org
Founded in 2000, DonorsChoose.org makes it easy for anyone to help a classroom in need. At this nonprofit website, teachers at half of all the public schools in America have created project requests, and more than a million people have donated $235 million to projects that inspire them. All told, 11.2 million students -- most from low-income communities, and many in disaster-stricken areas -- have received books, art supplies, field trips, technology, and other resources that they need to learn. Visit www.donorschoose.org/intro to hear Oprah Winfrey and Stephen Colbert tell the DonorsChoose.org story.