Hands Helping Heroes donated to the Kannapolis ninth grade academy last year, and their dropout numbers lowered for the first time.
CHARLOTTE -- For the second year in a row, Time Warner Cable gave back to the community through their Hands Helping Heroes program.
Monday, the group decided to make a donation that they hope will have a powerful impact on schools and public safety with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Truancy and Gang Prevention Initiative as well as the Union County Sheriff’s Office being declared the winners.
The sheriff’s office hopes to start a bicycle patrol and education program with its $10,000. They say half of bicycle-crash-related deaths involved children under 15.
"They are also part of the everyday traffic in our county and want them to understand that they need to operate their bikes safely,” said Master Deputy Bernie Young of the sheriff’s office.
For the second year in a row, Time Warner Cable gave back to the community through their Hands Helping Heroes program.
As for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Truancy and Gang Prevention Initiative, they plan on using their $45,000 check to continue lowering truancy numbers throughout the CMS system.
CMS has an approximate 95 percent attendance rate, meaning that about 6,000 students do not attend school every day.
"There are challenges that they face when they are younger and they build patterns of not coming to school,” said CMS Superintendent Peter Gorman.
If it works, those with Time Warner Cable say it’s a small price to pay to improve the community.
“Giving back is an absolute top priority to Time Warner Cable,” said Jessica Graham of Time Warner Cable. “It’s been important for many, many years.”
Hands Helping Heroes donated to the Kannapolis ninth grade academy last year, and their dropout numbers lowered for the first time. Time Warner Cable is the parent company of News 14 Carolina.