Matt Badger Email and Phone Number

My background is a commercial director for close to 20 years. Mostly with EpochFilms I lost my three daughters, Lily, Sarah and Grace in a house fire on Christmas day, 2011. The fire took place at the girls mother's home, Stamford CT. The girls died with the grandparents.April, 2012 LilySarahGraceFund went on line to support any teacher in an underfunded public elementary that would infuse the arts into the teaching of the curriculum.Arts were the passion of the girls. Department of Education, State and Federal had slashed all support for the arts, firing the majority of teachers and cutting off all supplies to arts materials. Research shows that for a large percentage of children in Elementary School, the Arts is essential for their success in their introduction to academia. That many children's intelligences and gifts lay in visuals, musical, dance, and drama and many of these same children struggle with language and math. This was true for my daughters and true for myself. I was very lucky to have a strong mother who was an academic and supported my artistic endeavors, but for so many poverty stricken children their circumstances are such that they do not have an advocate for their education. All focus was on Math and English, and the right brain was not valued and simply dropped from the curriculum. LSG now supports methods of teaching known as Project/Inquiry Based Learning, and Arts Infused Education. Both of these methods bring the color, fun, and child-centered learning back into the classroom. They are excellent for the challenged learners such as Lily, Sarah and Grace. These methods that embrace the new Common Core State Standards, and we hope that Public Education is turning to these methods of learning as mainstream.LSG has delivered $1,000,000 in supplies to public school teachers. Affecting 140,000 children. With a 900 member national network of teachers in all 50 States.