As a teacher, it is a given that a certain percentage of my income will be donated back into my school for general supplies that aren’t provided by my school due to budget constraints each year. It doesn’t matter if you teach in what is perceived as a rich or poor school system. The fact of the matter is that education funding is not a priority for our government. Grant money from initiatives like No Child Left Behind only goes so far and comes with a mind-boggling number of constraints.
With the state of our economy, school systems are certainly feeling the pinch. Think about how much it costs your family to fill the gas tank. Then think of what it costs to fill the tanks of the many school buses in your city or county that take your precious children to and from school. Rising gas prices means that there is less money for basic classroom supplies that teachers need on a daily basis for successful classroom instruction.
I’m not talking about fancy schmancy Promethean boards that are the high tech way of providing interactive classroom instruction, laptops for teachers, or subscriptions to great websites like One More Story. I’m talking about the basics…Multicultural books on CD for a classroom listening center for kids who don’t have books at home, a bus for a field trip, and pencils. What kid in a classroom can be without a pencil?
So why the rant? Hopefully I’ve moved you to do something. And that something is to be part of the DonorsChoose.org Blogger Challenge.
As a contributor to DC Metro Moms, I’m participating in the challenge along with other bloggers from the Silicon Valley Moms Group. Together we are rallying our readers to help a record number of kids and teachers in high need public schools.
How do I participate? It’s easy!
Throughout the month of October, go to DonorsChoose.org and use the search fields on the left to search by state or keyword to find a project that interests you. On the site you will find proposals from classroom teachers that list the exact materials that are needed to fund their project. Select a project and donate to help bring resources to students in struggling classrooms.
Your donation is tax deductible and will be given directly to the teacher who is requesting funds. No middleman and no skimming off the top. Every penny of your donation will be put in the hands of a very grateful teacher!
Last year the challenge helped 75,000 children get supplies that were requested by public school teachers. We can do better this year.
I know from first hand experience that teachers don’t make all that much money. Please find a project that is needed by a public school teacher in your area and give something- anything– to support them in their efforts to provide the best education for our kids.
Thanks for reading and supporting DonorsChoose.org!
If you would like to see how much DC readers have donated, check out the widget on the right. If you blog, feel free to post about this challenge and grab the widget for your own site if you blog by clicking here!
This blog post is original to Tech Savvy Mama and may not be reposted without permission.
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Original post by Tech Savvy Mama
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