Bing: Our School Needs {Contest} It's time to vote!

Earlier this month I had the pleasure of learning about Bing's Our School Needs campaign and I couldn't have been happier to write about this great contest. For a reminder, you can visit my earlier post and here is a brief recap: Bing believes in supporting kids' education and wants to help teachers and students by providing them with supplies and the financial support needed to ensure a successful learning experience.

How are they doing that? By awarding a quarter-million dollars in prize money divided among four schools in need.

Yowza, right?

Entrants have been submitting photos, essays and videos on behalf of their school and now it's time to pick the winners! 15 finalists have been selected, so all you have to do it head over and vote. The school with the most overall votes will win the $100,000 grand prize and the school with the most votes in each of the three categories (grades K-6, 7-9 and 10-12) will each win $50,000.

Voting began Friday, October 29 and runs through Sunday, November 7 and the lucky winners will be announced on Tuesday, November 9. Can you imagine the excitement that is going to go through the winning schools? What an amazing day that will be for them!

But wait, there's more. Bing is also giving away up to $900,000 to schools in need through DonorsChoose.org, a non-profit website where public school teachers can post classroom projects that need funding. If you are one of the first 30,000 to vote for your favorite finalists each day, you will receive a $3 donation code to redeem for the classroom project of your choice!

So, go vote! I may be a sap, but watching the finalist videos made me a little teary-eyed. These kids need everything from buses to books to computers and it is clear that they spent a lot of time and put a lot of heart into making their entries... and now they need our help to make their dreams come true.

In the end, no matter who wins, I still have to tip my hat to Bing for holding the Our School Needs contest, as it is such a great campaign. Education and schooling makes a huge difference in the lives of all of our children and the results that budgets (and budget cuts) have make a major effect in the experiences that kids have in school. Thanks, Bing, for making an impact!


I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Bing and received a gift card and DonorsChoose.org giving code to thank me for taking the time to participate.