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Program helps match donors to teachers' needs
No-cost option helping educators with supplies
W 082115 DONORS CHOOSE 04
Langston Chapel Elementary School kindergarten teacher Valerie McLaughlin gathers some readers around her at a horseshoe table during the Our Time after school program. The school was able to purchase another one of the tables through a successful Donors Choose campaign.
With limited budgets, funding cuts and other challenges, teachers today often find shortfalls in meeting their classroom needs. Some Bulloch County educators have discovered an easy, no-cost way to secure supplies, accessories and classroom needs with the simple click of a computer mouse.Accounts with the online charity donorschoose.org have helped supply local classrooms with tables, headphones, field trips and even a year’s supply of tissue and antibacterial wipes.Two Statesboro-area elementary schools in particular have benefitted from the website, which costsnothing and pairs teacher’s needs with donors and companies who are willing to help make sure children get the best education possible, said Haley Greene, spokesperson for the Bulloch County school system.One of the first Bulloch County teachers to discover the program is Stacy DiNello, who teaches first grade at Mill Creek Elementary School.Mill Creek Elementary School Principal Patrick Hill said he is very pleased with the fact that DiNello has, over the years, collected over $20,000 worth of donated items for her classes at no cost to the school system.“There are a lot of different opportunities, and we have a few teachers who have been very successful,” he said. “It’s another way to get what we need without having to use extra budgetary money.”DiNello said she first discovered the site about four years ago, “when the recession hit so hard.”
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