In October of 2020, an art teacher in Brooklyn reached out to us with a concerning message. The teacher told us that some of her students - who were learning remotely - didn’t have notebooks or sketchbooks to complete their lessons. She was reaching out to see if we could make a donation of supplies to her classroom.
We immediately thought, ‘yes’, we’d love to donate a few journals and school supplies to her and her students. When we asked how many students she was teaching, we were surprised to find out that this teacher, alone, has close to 200 students.
As we paused and thought about it, we knew this teacher wasn’t the only educator in this situation, and we wanted to find a way to do something about it.
A few weeks later, we were able to donate to her classroom - 200 journals and 200 sets of markers. After making the donation, we told her to let us know if she knew of any other teachers in a similar situation.
That day, she posted in a Facebook group for NYC teachers, asking if anyone else’s students lacked supplies to complete their lessons. The response was overwhelming.
On January 15th, we got in the car and delivered journals to four more teachers, starting in the Bronx and finishing in Brooklyn. These teachers serve more than 800 students in the NYC metro, and now, each one of their students has a notebook they can call their own.
Above all else, we want to thank these five teachers who reached out to us asking for supplies. They have incredibly hard jobs in normal times let alone during a pandemic. Instead of waiting it out and hoping for things to go back to normal, these teachers showed action. They stood up for their students and got them the supplies they needed to learn.
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“I can't wait to share them with my students. I know they will be filling them with drawings, and writing, to express their ideas and feelings. I'm so glad to be able to give my students this lovely surprise, in the middle of the winter, in the middle of an extremely tough school year."
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"We are so grateful and cannot wait to distribute this incredible surprise to our scholars. Thank you truly for bringing joy to our community during such a trying time."
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Teachers to thank: