Projects

Adopt a School

GRSP supports current Garland ISD staff via the Adopt a School Program. GRSP members work individually or in small groups to deliver treats to campuses.

In the 2021-2022 school year, 34 GRSP members adopted 16 GISD schools.

Adopt-a-School Process and Guidelines

GRSP will continue the Adopt-a-School volunteer opportunity for members this year. Thanks to the generous support from GRSP members, 16 schools were adopted in 2021-2022. Some groups had one member. Another group had seven members, all former teachers from that school. The Adopt-a-School Project is designed to let current GISD employees know that GRSP is an organization of retired school employees who remember and value the work being done by current employees to benefit all GISD students. The purpose of the project is to show appreciation to staff members in GISD schools by taking small tokens of appreciation to the school once or several times during the year and making sure that current employees know that GRSP exists and is working with TRTA to ensure that the future for current and retired school employees is sound. Purchasing, labeling, and delivery of the items will be the responsibility of the volunteers who choose to participate.

Members may work solo, or they may recruit a few friends to be part of the group.
Members may select a school from the list of available schools. See or email Mary Nelson at jducky101@gmail.com to check on availability. If someone has adopted the school you wish to adopt, feel free to sign on and join the group.
Obtain permission from the principal to drop off a basket or bag of individually wrapped treats for the staff. Suggestions include snack size candy, single serving bags of chips or crackers, sticky note pads, pencils, markers, school supplies from the clearance aisle, etc.
Collect money from group members to make the purchase.
Purchase enough items so that all staff members can have one item.
Attach a note to the item or to the container identifying GRSP as the donor. For example: GRSP thanks you for your dedication and commitment to GISD students. You can use the one-pager below for this.
For a sticky note pad: Take note! GRSP is grateful for your energy and enthusiasm. For a bag of chips: GRSP says thank you for chipping away all obstacles to ensure that learning occurs and students succeed!
Call or email to schedule a day and time to deliver the items to the school. Follow the instructions of the principal to learn whether to drop off the treats or whether you may deliver them to the workroom in person. Include a copy of the one page description of GRSP below, or pick up a copy at any meeting. We can also email a form for you to print.
Repeat as desired--once each year, once each semester, once each grading period, or whenever you find an irresistible bargain price on items to share.

one-pager for Adopt-a-School

School Book Project

To support Garland ISD students, GRSP members can donate and/or collect books for first graders.

Scholarships

GRSP collects donations from members to support both GISD students and staff in pursuing higher education goals through scholarships to graduating seniors and to paraprofessionals who wish to become teachers.

Scholarships are awarded each spring. High school seniors who are interested in pursuing a career in teaching or related fields are selected to receive a $1000 award. Paraprofessionals who are already working for GISD and are pursuing a degree are selected to receive a $500 award. Last year three seniors from Garland High, Lakeview Centennial, and Naaman Forest were selected. Five paraprofessionals were also chosen. The awards totaled $5500. It is always the goal of the Scholarship Committee to continue and increase these awards to help students to achieve their dreams. These scholarships are funded by the generosity of GRSP members and officers.

Nancy Payne Memorial Scholarship Fundraiser

(2024 Paraprofessional Scholarship Application)

(2024 High School Student Scholarship Application)

Nancy Payne was a career educator. While in Garland ISD, she taught math at Bussey Middle School and at Garland High School where she became the Mathematics Department Head and served as a sponsor of the National Honor Society. She was committed to preparing her students for college and for life. When she retired in 2004, she joined Garland Retired School Personnel (GRSP) and immediately became active in the organization. She served in many officer positions and was elected President in 2006-2007. One of her favorite projects was awarding college scholarships to GISD students and paraprofessionals who wanted to become teachers. She worked with other GRSP members to make scholarship applications available to students, to collect those applications, and to form a committee to evaluate the applications and select recipients. Then she went to awards assemblies at GISD schools to present the scholarships.

In order to distribute scholarships, GRSP had to have a way to fund the scholarships. Donations funded the project for a few years, and then GRSP implemented a fundraiser to raise funds in a fun, interactive way. Nancy Payne organized a Bingo fundraiser and acquired the cards, markers, and prizes for the players. She supplied the Bingo game used to call the numbers. Nancy was asked to call the numbers.

Nancy’s wry sense of humor was perfect for her role as the caller. The game time was full of math jokes, humorous remarks, rhyming puns, and admonishments to those who cleared cards too early. Nancy made comments about some of the prizes that were available and how well some of them matched the personalities of the prize winners. Once Nancy became the bingo caller, she retained the assignment throughout her life. She was a very important person in helping the project grow to fund more scholarships.

After her death in 2020, the GRSP Advisory Board proposed to name the annual bingo event to recognize Nancy for all that she did to ensure the success of the scholarship project. It was proposed to name the event The Nancy Payne Memorial Scholarship Fundraiser. The motion passed unanimously. The project is well known and has had great success. Current GRSP members are carrying on the work that Nancy and other GRSP members did to get this project underway. Each year, Garland ISD high school seniors and paraprofessionals benefit from the work done to establish The Nancy Payne Memorial Scholarship Fundraiser.