Giving Tuesday is a national movement started last year as a way to give to charities during the holiday season, instead of giving to corporations during Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

One business participating in the fundraiser for the first time is Brehm Preparatory School, located on East Grand Avenue. The private school is for students in grades 6th through high school who have learning disabilities, mostly nonverbal learning challenges. The campus has five dorms, which are optional for students, and four school buildings for around 80 students.

Giving Tuesday always takes place on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. All donations made to Brehm this year will go directly to financial aid.

Advertisement

“We currently have a few scholarships and several dollars in financial assistance that we help students with. Our intention is to help more local students, more in the southern Illinois region — that might need our services.” Russell Williams, director of Brehm School Foundation, said. “We have about 10 percent of the current student population here at Brehm School are regional students.”

Many of the regional students do not live at Brehm, but drive there for school, said Williams. He said those who live at Brehm pay more than $60,000 a year, but everything is included for the student just as if the student lived at home. For those that commute to the school, the tuition is closer to $40,000 a year. Williams said tuition is different for each student because it depends on their individual needs.

Brehm School also has a post-secondary education system called Options, which houses its approximate 40 students in Aspen Court Apartments, or allows them to make their own living arrangements. Options help students attending school at John A. Logan and SIU and assists with internship possibilities.

“The curriculum is what you would find in any high school setting,” said Brian Brown, executive director of Brehm School.

Brown said what makes Brehm different is the school’s teaching methods. He said with each student, the school figures out what their strengths and weaknesses are, and they teach accordingly and show the students how to use the skills they learn at Brehm in other situations in life, such as job training and social skills.

Brown said the school has about 150 teachers for the school and Options. Some of the teachers help with counseling and therapy, live in the dorms with the students as a kind of residence assistant or have specific specializations to help the students.

Many of Brehm’s students come from the Midwest, but there are students from all over the country and even outside of the U.S.

Advertisement*

The Brehm School Foundation helps students find funding for financial aid, projects and programs, all which help the students.

Online stores such as Amazon.com also have options to donate to charity while you shop. Prices are the same as always, if there are discounts the shopper still gets the discounts. One to 6 percent, depending on the website, of the shoppers’ total is donated to a charity of their choice.

Camfield said places like Amazon.com send out a lump sum check monthly, quarterly or yearly, again depending on the site, so they will not know what money was donated for Giving Tuesday, but the donator can call Brehm and let them know, and when they receive the check, they will put that amount into the financial aid fund.

Camfield said there are many ways to donate to Brehm for Giving Tuesday. The website, www.brehm. org/foundation is a secure site that accepts donations 24/7 or donations can be made by calling, emailing or mailing the Foundation.