CLEVELAND, Tenn. (Oct. 28, 2009)—ServPro of Bradley County will kick off its new BEST Partnership Waterville Community School by hosting a food drive to benefit the students of Waterville School and Big City University during Cleveland’s Halloween Block Party.

The new partners signed the partnership agreement last week at the school.

BEST is an acronym for Business and Education Serving Together. A program of the Cleveland/Bradley Chamber of Commerce, BEST unites the efforts of a business and a school to strengthen the quality of the educational process through the utilization of community resources, to foster better understanding between the business community and the schools, and to expand learning opportunities for everyone involved in the partnership effort.

“We’re asking the community to participate in a holiday food drive by dropping off nonperishable food items at the ServPro booth during the Block Party,” ServPro’s sales and marketing representative Tammy Rockwell said about their first partnership effort. “The food collected at the block party will be distributed to families of students at Waterville Community School and Big City University during the Thanksgiving and Christmas Holidays.”

As an added incentive, those donating food are eligible for a free carpet cleaning.

“You can attach your name and phone number to the can or box to be entered in a drawing for one of 10 free carpet cleanings,” Rockwell explained. “The only stipulation is that to win the carpet cleaning you must be a resident of Bradley County. The winners will be contacted within one week of the Block Party.”

Waterville Principal Charlene Cofer appreciates the new partnership as well.

“Waterville Community is one of the largest elementary schools in Bradley County,” Cofer said, adding that the school has 572 Pre-K through fifth-grade students. “Our mission, in partnership with the community, is to develop learners who exhibit a caring attitude and are responsible, productive citizens. Adding ServPro as another BEST partner will certainly benefit our students, particularly with this food drive during the holidays.”

Schools in the Bradley County and Cleveland City School Systems have one or more local business partners as part of the BEST program, which is a workforce development initiative of the Chamber of Commerce.

For information about the partnership program, call Sherry Crye, director of workforce development, at 472-6587.

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