‘Open Mic Night’ to benefit PEP scholarship fund

BURGAW, NC (WWAY) — Providing scholarships for graduating high school seniors is one of the goals of Pender Education Partnership, or PEP, which is a nonprofit group.

PEP is a 501c3 foundation established a few years ago to provide teacher mini-grants, scholarships and educator recognition.

“Anybody can be a partner in assisting in the education of Pender County students,” said PEP Board Member Tammy Proctor.

PEP holds a number of fundraising events and one of them is coming up this week.

‘Open Mic Night’ is a talent show taking place Friday, June 4, from 6-9 p.m. at the Burgaw Middle School field located at 500 S. Wright Street in Burgaw.

“We are looking for anyone with talent who can sing, dance or play an instrument,” said PEP Board Member Tammie Parris. “There will also be basket raffles, food trucks, fresh blueberries from Lewis Farms.”

Anyone who wants to take part can sign up here.

Recently, PEP presented scholarships to graduating seniors at each of the county’s high schools. This year’s scholarship recipients were: Krysten Gainey, Riley Ramos, Makayla Obremski, Shelby Parker, Grayson Frazee, Nicholas McGowan, Kinley Federonko, Jamie Wood, Amari Walker, Madelyn Coombs, Erin Harvey and Cassidy Baribeault.

PEP also provides teacher mini grants.

“We have a lot of teachers with some innovative, creative ideas they want to bring to the classroom but they don’t have the funds,” Parris said.

Often educators pay out of pocket for these projects but with a teacher mini grant from PEP it can fund these initiatives or help defray some of the costs.

“The teachers have an an opportunity to apply and if approved, we will award up to $500,” Parris said. (Clink here to access the application.)

WWAY Anchor Jeff Rivenbark will serve as emcee for ‘Open Mic Night’ which begins at 6 p.m. More than a dozen people have signed up to perform. The featured act will be GideonsRevel and they will take the stage from 8-9 p.m.

Admission is free but donations will be collected throughout the evening for PEP.

Click here if you would like to make a donation or volunteer at one of the events hosted by PEP. Click here to watch a video about PEP.