How to Help Teachers Get School Supplies for the New School Year
It’s shopping season for school, and not just for parents. According to the New York Times, a whopping 98 percent of teachers buy school supplies themselves without reimbursement. And that’s a lot: according to the same article, teachers who had to buy their own supplies spent an average of $ 479 of their own money filling their classrooms.
Crowdfunding sites like Donors Choose have provided an alternative for teachers to raise the money needed to buy supplies, and this year Courtney Jones , an elementary school teacher in Texas, made it easier for people to support educators.
Smith launched a social media campaign last month with the hashtag #clearthelists , giving the public the opportunity to donate money and materials to teachers across the country. “This is a group of teachers who originally came together to support other teachers by gifting each other items from our Amazon Wishlists,” she says in avideo about the projectposted on YouTube .
How to make a donation
If teachers are unsure of how to create an Amazon Wishlist, Jones has an explainer video for that. After creating their list, teachers can share it on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter using the hashtag #clearthelists.
If you’re interested in helping, just search for #clearthelists on social media, find a teacher’s campaign, and donate. You don’t have to cleanse the entire teacher list yourself; buying even one subject can make a big difference.