The Blue Bird School Bus Foundation, charitable arm of iconic school bus manufacturer Blue Bird Corporation (Nasdaq: BLBD), continues to invest in the education, health, and safety of children in its home state of Georgia. The Foundation hosted its second community empowerment event this year and awarded a total of $60,000 to eleven local area nonprofit organizations, including:

Donations ranged from $2,500 up to $10,000.

"Blue Bird is proud to serve as a good corporate citizen in Georgia, our home state for nearly a century," said Blue Bird president and CEO John Wyskiel. "Our foundation partners with outstanding nonprofit organizations to help address the most pressing social needs in our communities. We are committed to advancing the education, health, and safety of the children in our midst, thereby, setting them up for long-term success." 

"Many children in our community rely on free breakfast and lunch at school. We provide much-needed, nutritious food to students during weekends and holidays," said Kathy R. McCollum, president and CEO of the Middle Georgia Community Food Bank, which received the top-level contribution of $10,000 at the foundation event. "Child-friendly food products are rarely donated and must be purchased by the food bank. We appreciate the generous funding from Blue Bird School Bus Foundation to purchase food for this program so that students go to school healthy and ready to learn."

"We are truly grateful for this generous investment from the Blue Bird School Bus Foundation," said Andrew Felton, II, Executive Director of Peach County Family Connection. "This contribution of support in the amount of $7,500 will allow us to strengthen our outreach and deliver meaningful programming focused on conflict resolution, social-emotional development, and mental health access and support for the students and families we serve."

Since its inception in 2015, the Blue Bird School Bus Foundation has donated approximately $715,000 in charitable contributions to various community organizations, including nearly 80 Georgia-based nonprofits.