Faculty, staff, alumni and community members attended the ACC Foundation’s Grapes for Grads event Nov. 12 at Mike Ward Infiniti in Highlands Ranch.

The annual event is held to raise money for the Foundation’s many avenues for helping students.

Funds are distributed through a variety of means to meet several goals.

To help make each department more innovative and productive, mini grants are given to faculty and staff.

Examples of these:

• Digital cameras have been provided for some science classes for students to take pictures of what they were studying and enable them to make it into a textbook.
• The history department received a 3D printer to assist classes with gaming components.
• The Foundation provided a campus officer with a new police bike.

The Foundation grants $200,000 in financial assistance to students. Certain criteria, such as GPA, are evaluated to demonstrate to donors that they are getting a positive return on their investments.

Faculty and staff volunteer to help the Foundation help students. The Student Emergency Fund, which is offered through Student Life, provides money for food, gas, rent, etc., to students with emergency needs. A large percentage of ACC teachers have contributed to this fund.