The Discovery Bay Chamber of Commerce raised $1,950 for local schools from the annual State of the Town Dinner held last month. Proceeds will be presented to the Byron Union School District’s three principals on March 27 at the chamber’s monthly mixer.

“The chamber has once again raised funds through our annual dinner to donate back to the schools via our live auction,” said Chamber President Rita Caruso. “We are so thrilled that the community has once again opened their pocketbooks to help us give back to our community. We were overwhelmed by the amount of generous donations we received and can only imagine that next year will be even better.”

Brian Burnight, principal at Timber Point Elementary, said his school plans put its windfall toward the Odyssey of the Mind program.

“That is fantastic,” said Burnight of the chamber’s donation. “Thank you to fellow chamber members for being so very supportive of our students. Our two school teams are very excited to compete this weekend. We will definitely benefit from this support. It is great to be a part of such caring community, both as a resident and principal.”

Excelsior Principal Charles Miller intends to use his portion of the chamber’s donation to purchase books for the school’s language arts program. “Many of the books are in disrepair and need replacement,” said Miller. “In other cases, we have not had enough funds to purchase class sets of books. Thank you so much.”

The town’s annual event, held at the Discovery Bay Country Club, celebrates the Citizen, Business and Teacher of the Year. This year’s winners were Kevin Graves (Citizen of the Year), Sasville Realtors (Business of the Year) and Discovery Bay Elementary teacher Kristin Ortega (Teacher of the Year). The event also raises money for local causes and provides an overview of town government and changes taking place within the community.