Supporting Teachers: One Million School Supplies

Moms, friend to friend, can I confess something to you? I see what is happening right now with schools and teachers and kids, and I feel paralyzed and weary about all the heavy decisions and tough choices being made.

I want to do something to help, but I don’t know what or how. My go-to when a friend is in need is to make my famous ranch chicken enchiladas, but seeing as my kitchen has been out of order since May (super great timing to embark on a massive renovation project, I know) AND there’s not enough time in the day to make enchiladas for all those teachers out there, I have just been sitting here, wallowing.

Then along came my girlfriend Sara who I met at Mizzou about a billion years ago. And she not only felt the same way, but realized that she COULD do something to help out. And so she did. And now she’s asking for help. And this kind of help (the kind that just requires shopping on Amazon) is absolutely something I can do without a functioning kitchen!

What better way to hear about how to help than from Sara herself:

“Hi, I’m Sara. I started One Million School Supplies because, as we enter this 2020-2021 school year, my teacher friends are having a hard time. I’m a mom to a 4th grader at a public charter school. I have watched, jaw on the ground, while teachers switched their entire classrooms from in-person to virtual in the spring at a moment’s notice. I’ve seen what teachers have been doing all summer to prep for this crazy year with such limited information, ready to pivot on a dime. And now, I’m watching my son’s teachers and my other friends as they go back to school with all of the challenges and joy that brings.

As I’ve watched all of this, I’ve been moved… because the truth is, I could NEVER be a teacher. I’m a marketer. I build businesses. (I actually consider myself to be the worst teacher ever…don’t ever ask me to explain, like, anything.) But because I build businesses, that means that I can do something. And the truth is, you can do something, too. We can all do something.

At the beginning of the pandemic, when all of the parents suddenly had our kids home all day and we had to attempt to keep up with their classroom teachers, we all laughed and said “OMG pay them $1 million!” But as school has ramped up for the fall, and each region, district, and even school has chosen different options for re-opening, it is the teachers who are catching the brunt of the displeasure from their communities. They are being blamed for whatever choices are (almost inevitably) being put upon them, whether they agree with those decisions or not.

Y’all…teachers are SUPERHEROES. Which of us wouldn’t complain when our entire job description — and not just our job description, but, for many of them, the thing they’ve dreamed of doing their entire lives — was just totally uprooted and changed end-over-end overnight? And which of us, KNOWING THAT OUR LIVES COULD BE AT RISK, would still go to our jobs… just because we can’t imagine leaving the kids behind to whatever other situations they’d face if we didn’t show up?

This is why we do what we do. They still deserve $1 million. Let’s get it to them.” 

How You Can Help

Teachers

Tell us a little bit about yourself and submit your wishlist here.

Donors

Pick a teacher’s wishlist here and donate through Amazon or another platform…it only takes a few minutes to make a real difference in a classroom!

You can also make a monetary donation here to be distributed directly to the most urgent teacher needs via Amazon and Donors Choose.

Support and Share

Pitch in today by visiting us online or by joining our One Million School Supplies Facebook group and participating there, sharing our page, and inviting your friends. Our group is an active community of educators and members who want to support them; join with us as we face the unprecedented challenges of this year together!


Julie is a JoCo transplant, proudly living in the Northland; she is married to her best friend and has 3 crazy kids 12, 11, and 4 (two by marriage and one by birth). While her college degree says teacher, she only spent a few years in public schools before transitioning into the world of software development and data engineering. She loves figuring out how to automate her life through different apps and scripts. When she’s not geeking out, she can be found watching horrible science fiction movies, planning home improvement projects, digitally scrapbooking, and reading mystery and suspense novels.   

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