Office Depot: REAL Change Project

posted by Stacie on May 7, 2013 // 0 Comments »

As the mother of three school aged children (6, 8 & 10 – all in elementary school) there are some statistics that never fail to disturb me every single year.

Did you know that $1,000 is the out-of-pocket amount spent by the average teacher each year on essential classroom supplies?

Did you know that 92% of teachers report spending their own money on classroom supplies?

Did you know that $1.3 billion is the total out-of-pocket amount spent nationally by teachers on classroom supplies each year?

Can you believe this? I am convinced that teaching is probably one of the hardest yet most rewarding jobs ever. And spending your own money to buy things to teach the children you are helping just seems unreasonable to me.

As a room parent and a PTA member, I have spent years making certain that the teachers teaching my children don't spend out of their pockets. Or at least if they do, they spend a lot less. Unfortunately, it is just unavoidable for some teachers and as much as I would like to help, my resources are limited as well. I frequently turn to other parents to help as they can.

Office Depot recognizes the contributions teachers make every day to support students and they are trying help end teacher funded classroom or at least make it a little less like I am (and many other parents as well).

ABOUT THE REAL CHANGE PROJECT FROM OFFICE DEPOT

Office Depot and their charity partner, AdoptAClassroom.org lets teachers register their classrooms in order to participate in the REAL Change Project. Once they register, they are eligible for funding from donors nationwide.

The really amazing thing about this project is that 100% of AdoptAClassroom.org donations goes directly to teachers, so they don't have to spend their own money on supplies.

Teachers can access tools here to help promote their involvement and let others know about their classroom needs.