Let me begin by saying I hope you had a great turkey day. It’s always nice to be around family and dear friends to celebrate the goodness in our lives and be thankful for all the blessings we’ve received over the years. But as I sat around my dining room table with my parents, my mind drifted. I began to think about how fortunate I am and have been and how so many people in our community would be grateful just to have a warm meal. When I think about all those people, I can’t help but think about all the children in need. I have a special place in my heart for children. They too often in this community are only remembered during certain times of the year: back-to-school and the holidays. But these children need our support year-round.
I always love the saying, “Be the change you wish to see in the world” (thanks, Ghandi). I hope that by working here, I’m being the change I want to see in the world. However, I know it takes more than me, more than the staff at Classroom Central, it really does take all of us to make a difference. And you can be that change agent every time you support the students we serve.
So we finally have the numbers in for the students that we will be serving this year and as soon as I heard them, I was blown away. I remember back in the “old days” when we were serving 52 schools, this year we are serving 148. This equates to more than 90,000 students. I know . . . that’s a huge number. Last year we served 119 schools and 80,000 students. The increase amazes me. It’s not so much that I’m surprised – the need has been increasing every year I’ve been here, but I can tell you five years ago, I never dreamt that we’d be serving more than 90,000 students in 148 schools.
I’m glad that we are here as a resource for our students but we can’t do it alone. Now more than ever we need the support of the community to ensure our store shelves remain stocked and our students supplied with the materials they need. There are a few ways to help: purchase holiday cards in honor of someone special in your life; donate pencils or packaged pens; join us at Panther Talk on December 14; or make a financial contribution. Any and all help is needed. Our School Tools donations were down this year but the need is up. Typically the donations we receive from our back-to-school drives last us through the end of the calendar year. This year, we haven’t been so lucky.
But more importantly we need the community to know that the need for school supplies exists year-round. Too many people think that kids only need supplies at back-to-school time, but they forget that the package of pencils a student receives in August is now long gone and that backpack is torn with a broken zipper.
In our last post I shared with you how one of our 1st grade teacher shoppers said that on the first day of school she asked her students to take out their crayons and create a picture of their new classroom and classmates. Only 5 out of the 18 students had crayons.
I know the need exists – I hear it from our teacher shoppers and I see it when I visit schools but there’s something about hearing only 5 out of 18 students had crayons. I remember the smell of a brand new box of crayons and how much I loved it. I remember begging my parents to get me the really BIG box of crayons so I could have every color imaginable. But for the students we serve, my reality growing up is unfathomable to them. Why should these students not have the same memories of smelling a brand new box of crayons for the first time? They are no different than us.
Tags: holiday card, Panther Talk, school supplies, students in need
