Verona Students Benefit From Sales of Homes, Mortgages

When you buy a house with Taylor Real Estate or get a mortgage from 1st American Lending, the businesses will make a $1,500 donation to local schools. 

The partnership was announced Thursday morning at 1st American Lending's offices in Fairfield. 

The firm's president, Fred Stringham, along with Verona-based Taylor Real Estate Broker Glen Taylor, will each make a donation of $1,500 to either Verona or Caldwell-West Caldwell Schools when residents of those towns do business with them from now through Dec. 31.

The donations will go to the Verona Foundation for Educational Excellence and the Caldwell-West Caldwell Education Foundation, Verona Schools Superintendent Steve Forte said.

Forte established a similar partnership earlier this year with DeCozen Chrysler Jeep Dodge, which donated $200 for each car purchased during a certain time period. The effort raised $2,000 for Verona and Caldwell-West Caldwell foundations.

The Verona Foundation for Educational Excellence donated $30,000 in grants to the district's schools in the 2012-13 school year, said President Douglas Smith.

One grant, Smith said, helped pay for a composer-in-residence who worked with students in English classes to write poetry. The students words were later married with an original composition created and performed by music students. 

The Caldwell-West Caldwell Education Foundation raised nearly $30,000 for district schools last year, with $10,000 going to create a LEGO Robotics program at the district's middle school, Chairperson Mary Ann Campion said.

Caldwell-West Caldwell Superintendent James Heinegg said he supported the program as a way to generate additional dollars for schools outside the district budget. 

"There are people in the community that want to contribute to the schools," Heinegg said.

Last year, Verona raised $107,000 through corporate sponsorships, which include a partnership with the New York Yankees, Forte said.

The money helped create a $150,000 maintenance reserve the district never had before, he said.