Ingersoll Rand donated vehicle service tools, valued at $5,000, to the winners of the Collision Repair Education Foundation's (CREF's) 2012 Ultimate Collision Education Makeover Grant. The recipients, Manhattan Area Technical College, in Manhattan Kan., and Nichols Career Center, in Jefferson City, Mo., accepted the tools at the dedication ceremony held in October.
According to CREF, the goal of the grant is to honor a technical or vocational school that does an outstanding job in educating students in collision repair and would benefit from financial assistance to improve their program’s teaching materials and equipment.
"Ingersoll Rand wants all up-and-coming technicians to have the opportunity to learn with the best resources available," said Kim Versaw, marketing specialist at Ingersoll Rand. "We want to make sure the students at Manhattan Area Technical College and Nichols Career Center have access to the most basic tools — like impact wrenches, ratchets, grinders and sanders — in order to get a quality, hands-on education."
Linn Schroll, automotive collision instructor at the Manhattan Area Technical College, is excited for the students to start using the tools.
"I have been in this industry for 33 years, and I have used and owned Ingersoll Rand tools at different points throughout that time," Schroll says. "I have always found them to be excellent tools that hold up well. They will have a long-lasting impact with my students and this program."
CREF has provided more than $18 million to high school and college collision school programs since 2008, in large part through the support of donors.
"The ability to support these educational programs has only been possible through our donors and supporters," says Brandon Eckenrode, CREF's director of development. "As I like to say, we are facilitators of the industry's generosity."
