There are many potential methods available to people who want to donate school supplies. Donations can occur at the classroom level, school level or donation distributor level. Alternately, people can direct their donations toward supplying students with the materials they individually require. In all cases, donating can be big or small, and may take just a little time to accomplish.
Perhaps the easiest route to donate school supplies is to work with a specific classroom. This can be done in person, or it might be accomplished through programs like Adopt a Classroom®. Whether talking to a teacher or reading a list online, folks will get specific information on what items are needed. With this information, people can shop at either local stores or teacher supply stores online. It isn’t necessary to donate all things that a class needs. Programs like Donors Choose® allow people to pick a classroom and donate money in dollar amounts of their choice, and classroom teachers may make parents or other community members aware of their presence on the Donors Choose® website.
Instead of classroom donations, some people prefer to donate school supplies at the school level. This way they can be distributed throughout a school as needed. There are some common things that are typically needed especially in grammar schools. These include number two pencils and pens, glue sticks, lined paper, construction paper, composition notebooks, colored pencils and colored markers, safety or child scissors, and copy machine paper. Again, it may be better to ask the school administrators what they most need, as this way donations are likely to be used.
Another direction that people can follow when they donate school supplies is to give materials to students who may not be able to obtain them. There are a number of programs that can help in this respect, like Backpacks for Education®. Alternately, people can work with many local charities to determine what supplies they need to help students bring the materials they’ll require in class. Folks can still talk to local schools that may identify some students who didn’t participate in any school supply charitable giving program. Alternately, some students may need material that isn’t usually given in charitable programs like scientific calculators.
In truth there are so many ways to donate school supplies, that it would be hard to list them all. People should also know that if they can’t afford supplies they might yet have the means of helping out a school. Many schools participate in cellphone, ink cartridge and battery recycling programs and in Boxtops for Education®. Those who lack the wherewithal to donate supplies might consider saving box tops or batteries and ink cartridges to be donated to a school that does participate. This only takes a little time, and can make a school a small amount of money. The gift of time is a useful donation too; when people can’t donate school supply items, they might consider volunteering in classrooms since this certainly benefits schools.
