Buck Up
Being a former teacher, I know how much teachers give of their own lives to make sure their students’ needs are met. Often, this giving is financial. There are schools in our area where teachers have to buy all of their own supplies because their school can’t give them a budget and their students’ families cannot afford to buy even basics like crayons and paper or CHAIRS FOR THEIR CLASSROOM. Seriously? Not enough chairs for the amount of students in your class? What is WRONG with this country?
This is why DonorsChoose.org is such an awesome organization. Teachers can request supplies they need for their classrooms and individuals looking to contribute financially to our schools can log on and find a project that speaks to them. You can donate any dollar amount to a project, and many are also sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, who will match your contribution.
BlogHer is participating in DonorsChoose.org’s Social Media Challenge, and they asked me to pick three projects in the St Louis area that we could donate to as part of the challenge. I picked these particular projects for a few reasons. The first, for classroom sets of Lois Lowry’s Number the Stars and Walter Dean Meyer’s Monster, because not only do I love both of those books, but they are the types of books that kids LOVE. Monster is book that hooks reluctant readers, kids who NEVER read for fun, and to be able to get that book into a classroom’s hands is something I want to get behind. I also picked a project for a civics class for gifted kids, because they get the shaft all the time, even though they are considered a special needs group. Any parent of a gifted child knows how hard they have to advocate for their child just like other special needs groups, but often with less recourse or support available to them. The final project I picked involves supplies like folders, flash drives, and binders that a teacher needs to help her students gain organizational skills.
The total needed to fund these projects is around $1500. We can EASILY do that, y’all. Come on, STL folks. Donate to one of these great projects. All you have to do is click on any of the projects above. If you are not here in STL, you can search DonorsChoose for projects in your own area. There are so many to choose from. Consider it your good deed for the day. If you yourself are a blogger or are on Twitter or Facebook, please help me spread the word.
Tags: BlogHer, DonorsChoose, education, SLPS
(On October 1st, 2009 at 12:11 pm)
This is amazing. I will definitely do what I can for these! Is it just a monetary donation or can we actually donate supplies? I have tons of extra at our office I’m sure the Bossmen would love to donate.
(On October 2nd, 2009 at 6:50 am)
Thanks for doing this….wish our St. Louis area project had been chosen to be featured! Donorschoose.org is amazing—— after you give to the blogher challenge, search for your own school district! Even “low poverty” areas have problems getting some of these supplies for the classroom. Ours is considered “low poverty” though we have about 20% free and reduced price lunch overall….but 80% of our classroom is on FRL….special needs students often are.
(On October 2nd, 2009 at 6:51 am)
@ Courtney….donorschoose is $$ only but contact local schools to see what they need. We recently had a ton of binders and general office supplies dropped off…every single one was claimed within a week. (20 boxes or more)