Various programs in the Brighton Area Schools continue to get a lift from donations by a variety of companies and organizations. Two substantial donations were accepted by the Board of Education at this past week’s meeting, and another is on the agenda for formal acceptance at the March 25th meeting. The latter is a donation of $15,500 from Eberspaecher North America, which has a large manufacturing plant in Brighton.

A $2,000 donation from the United Dairy Industry of Michigan accepted at the March 11th board meeting will be used to support the purchase of equipment for the food service program to make smoothies, and finally, the board accepted a $1,200 contribution from the Springmatter Fund, operated by the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation. The funds will go toward the reestablishment of the Maltby Intermediate School Greenhouse Project. That dovetails with the Community Foundation’s Open Worlds initiative.

Reestablishing the greenhouse at Maltby will allow students to create an environment in which they can see the relationship between organisms and their environment. The funds will go toward the purchase of plants, organisms, environmental sensors and supplies. $15,000 of the Eberspaecher donation will go to the Brighton High School Robotics program.

The TechnoDogs won the championship in last weekend’s FIRST Robotics district competition at Milford High School, and also won the Engineering Excellence award, while topping 37 other Michigan teams in the two-day tournament. Eberspaecher is also donating $500 toward the Brighton High Science Olympiad program. (TT)