Hood River Valley High School, Nyssa High School, Roosevelt High School (Portland), South Jetty High School (Warrenton)and Wallowa High School will share $6,000 in California Casualty Thomas R. Brown Athletics Grants. They are among 86 public high schools in 34 states receiving a total of $102,500 for struggling athletic departments.

The grant is named after California Casualty Chairman Emeritus Thomas R. Brown, who is a champion of helping more student-athletes learn valuable lessons of teamwork and confidence.  Since its inception in 2011, over $500,000 has been awarded to more than 400 high schools across the nation.

Many of the schools receiving the grants have large student populations that receive free or reduced-cost lunches and consequently have fewer and fewer dollars allocated for their sporting programs. 

The Oregon schools will apply The Thomas R. Brown Athletics Grant toward the purchase of:

• Uniforms and a shooting machine that will benefit both the boys and girls basketball teams at Hood River High  
• Pants so the JV and varsity football team at Nyssa High won’t have to share them on game nights
• Uniforms and warm-ups for the Roosevelt High girls track team
• Equipment and uniforms for the South Jetty High basketball team that serves youth housed in a detention facility
• New helmets and shoulder pads to enhance player safety for the Wallowa High football team

“Sports play an important role in schools across the country,” said Doug Goldberg, Senior Vice President. “California Casualty has supported educators for 65 years and we are honored to give back so more student-athletes can compete and succeed.”

There is a change for the 2016/2017 California Casualty Thomas R. Brown Athletics Grants – the program has been expanded to include public middle schools. Applications are now being taken at www.calcasathleticsgrant.com. The deadline for consideration is January 15, 2017.

California Casualty has other initiatives that give back to educators for all their hard work including the $2,500 Academic Award, www.calcasacademicaward.com and $200 Help Your Classroom grants, www.calcas.com/help-your-classroom.

Celebrating 100 years, California Casualty has proudly partnered with COSA to provide auto and home insurance for COSA members for more than 30 years. To learn more about California Casualty, or to request an auto insurance quote, please visit www.calcas.com/COSA or call 1.800.800.9410.