Verizon's Central Region President Carl Erhart presented a Verizon Foundation check for $70,500 on Wednesday, February 4, 2009 to Joan Gore, interim executive director of the Texas Computer Education Association in Austin, TX.

The presentation was made at the opening session of TCEA's annual conference that involved more than 8,200 educators.

The grant was for TCEA's efforts to continue to raise awareness and train teachers to use the free educational resources available through Thinkfinity.org.

"The partnership between TCEA and Verizon Thinkfinity is an invaluable tool for educators in the state of Texas," said Ms. Gore. She added, "TCEA is honored to be the recipient of this grant and will continue to provide Thinkfinity training throughout the sate in the coming year. The opportunity to offer such excellent resources to improve educational achievement at no cost to educators is a gift to the students of Texas."