Teachers and staff in the Chittenango Central School District are being rewarded for their hard work throughout the pandemic.

The Schools to Shops Project will give staff gift cards so they can use them to support local businesses in the Town of Sullivan. This is a partnership between the Greater Sullivan Chamber of Commerce and the Chittenango Parent Teachers Association.

What You Need To Know

  • Staff members within the Chittenango Central School District are receiving gift cards for their hard work

  • The Greater Sullivan Chamber of Commerce and the Chittenango Parent Teachers Association are partnering to help pay for $10 gift cards

  • The goal is to have staff members use the cards at local businesses

The goal is to give all 385 staff members a $10 gift card through the help of an online fundraiser.

Spectrum News spoke to the president of the Greater Sullivan Chamber of Commerce about the project. He said Chittenango has been one of the few districts in Central New York that has remained open every single day this school year for in-person learning.

That includes the high school, middle school and two elementary schools.

As part of Teacher Appreciation Week during the first week of May, every staff member from teachers to nurses will receive $10 gift card to support local businesses.

As we know, it's been a struggle for small businesses over the past year, so this will help bring in additional revenue.

"Since most of them live within the local community they will be able to patronize those businesses. Just buying those gift certificates gets money into those businesses, then hopefully they will go to visit these businesses," said Greater Sullivan Chamber of Commerce President Derrick Pratt.

The chamber launched this fundraiser a few weeks ago, but they're still looking to raise some additional funds. They're looking for a little more support from the community in order to pay for all the gift cards.

You can help by making a donation to the chamber's GoFundMe page.