Thousands of Fresno Unified School District students will be a little warmer this winter, and they can thank an anonymous donor.

The district plans to hand out the coats first to homeless students in coordination with FUSD’s Project ACCESS program.

The Salvation Army helped store the coats.

“Thanks to a very generous donor, 4,000 of our students will have brand-new warm coats this winter,” superintendent Bob Nelson said.

“This loving contribution is especially welcome as students are distance learning and not able to be on campuses for many of the supports that they need.”

Watch: Salvation Army Rep Talks Coats

Salvation Army Coat Donation from Fresno Unified on Vimeo.

Help Rename Early Learning Center

Fresno Unified needs your help to come up with a name for the district’s Early Learning Center at Fresno and A streets. (And please, serious suggestions only, no “Boaty McBoatface.”)

The district has posted an online survey where you can suggest names for the center up until Sept. 28. After that, the School Board will take a look at the suggestions and select the winning name.

Board policy requires schools or centers to be named for individuals, living or otherwise, who have made outstanding contributions to the county or community or significant contributions on a state, national, or world level. Facilities also can be named for the geographic area where they sit.

The center offers programs for children age 6 weeks to 5 years old and is currently offering online learning only because of the COVID-19 school closures.

Kudos to Reedley College, Fresno State

For the second time in three years, Reedley College’s Agriculture Department has been named the Outstanding Post-Secondary Agricultural Education Program by the California Agricultural Teachers Association.

The department’s programs — agriculture, ag business, plant science, mechanized ag, animal science, forestry, natural resources, and wildland fire — host FFA and 4H events, develop industry partnerships and new programs in viticulture, forestry, and wildland fire, host events and competitions, sells farm products, and support students who exhibit and compete at fairs and industry shows, and regularly outscore equestrian teams from Cal Poly, Stanford, and College of the Sequoias.

Meanwhile, Washington Monthly has named Fresno State among the top universities in the nation based on their contributions to the public good in three categories: social mobility, research, and promoting public service.

Fresno State was 26th out of 389 colleges and universities, with Ivy League schools (Harvard, Yale, Princeton) taking three of the top five slots. Stanford University was No. 1.