The Education Fund recognized Laura W. Ratliff, one of three sponsors it spotlighted during its annual Taste of Education at Hialeah Park on Feb. 24. Ratliff is a vice president and the commercial portfolio manager at The Graham Companies. Both The Graham Companies and The Education Fund are based in Miami Lakes. For more than 35 years the developers have supported the Fund and its projects.
The Education Fund helps public schools in various ways. To promote healthy eating habits, it sponsors “food forests” at schools where students may grow and harvest fruit, herbs and vegetables; it partners with Ocean Bank to provide a warehouse where public school teachers shop for free school supplies, more than $18 million given away to date; it organizes Teach-a-Thons that bring business professionals into classrooms as instructors for a day. It also hosts events such as Taste of Education, when public school students competed for the best culinary creations, and For The Love of Art, an annual auction of student art made from found objects.
In the photo, from left: Miami-Dade County Public Schools Supt. Jose L. Dotres; Julissa Rivera, Community Engagement Manager, The Miami Foundation; Anurag Gupta, vice president, Blackstone; John Hatzis, vice president, program manager, Blackstone; Laura W. Ratliff, vice president, Commercial Portfolio manager, The Graham Companies and Linda Lecht, president, The Education Fund.