The Corning Robotics organization needs your help! All three of our FIRST Tech Challenge high school teams and one FIRST LEGO League middle school team have advanced to post-season championships and invitationals, and we ask your support to help our outstanding and talented young engineers on their way!

Contributions toward our $25,000 goal will be split amongst our four teams:

- FLL 22251 Children of Apollo is heading to the American Robotics Invitational at Drew University;

- FTC 5484 Enderbots will represent upstate New York at the New England Premier Event in Springfield, Mass.;

- FTC 5485 GorillaBots will go bananas in Toronto at the Canadian Cup Premier Event;

- And FTC 5356 Team TARDIS returns to the FIRST World Championship in Houston, Texas for the second time in three years, to play with the best on the planet!

(Please note that we are partnering with a fiscal sponsor named The Hack Foundation and Hack Club Bank to hold contributions in a 501(c)3 for Corning Robotics Friends & Family.)

The Corning Robotics program serves 14 teams across all grade levels, and our teams’ growth and consistent achievement in upstate New York has created a wonderful problem in terms of our funding for post-season competitions. We are proud of our accomplishments, and grateful to everyone who has supported our teams this season! In particular, we're thankful for our primary sponsor, Corning Incorporated, who's been with us every step of the way since our program’s founding in 2011.

Fifty-five team members and their families need additional support to make these trips reality. Specifically, we're asking friends, family and community members near and far to help us defray our travel, lodging, and team expenses.

In addition to flights or ground travel for team members, a parent accompanying them, and coaches/mentors, your financial support will help teams purchase lunches and dinners, and other resources needed for teams’ experiences at their respective events — including but not limited to print materials, apparel, or other items.

We don't like having to ask for money. We're turning to the community because we believe in the power of community — that's why our high school teams have contributed more than 1,800 team hours of STEM outreach and community service in the past year, reaching more than 2,200 students to teach them about FIRST and the power & potential of STEM and robotics to impact the world and their lives in a positive way!

We appreciate anything you're able to contribute, and we look forward to experiencing our invitational, Premier Events, and the FIRST World Championship with teams from around the globe in the coming weeks and months. Thank you for being a part of our journey, and for your generous support!