Having the opportunity to help a teacher and kids in my own community makes me happier than I can explain. I have always admired teachers for what they do and elementary school was a magical time for me. I loved school for the reading, writing, art and projects. I have read statistic and news articles about the cut backs to schools and how teachers are paying out of their own paychecks for supplies. I remember when I was kid it seemed there were limitless supplies or my teachers made it be that way for us kids. Most teachers love what they do and provide what the kids need, not asking for help. That is why I am so happy Champions for Kids teams up with Elmer's to inspire people all over America to Bag It Forward.
My son and I went shopping at our local Walmart for Elmer's products and other back to school supplies. We found a Elmer's display that had lists of items needed for back to school for each grade. I grabbed a 2nd grade list since I wanted to donate to a local 2nd grade class in my neighborhood. For me 2nd grade was great! I had a fun teacher and there was lots of reading. I have always loved books! We even went to a school for a year that had a huge ship in the middle of the school where kids could take a book on board to read. It was a cozy ship made from like squishy matting, I wish I had a picture of it. It was the coolest thing I have seen at a school! We lived in WA at the time, rain and snow up there makes for a need to have cool indoor stuff like the Reading Ship.
I have always assumed that I alone was not enough to impact the life of anyone. That just one person doing something was not enough (I was so wrong!). Through taking part of the Champions for Kids Simple Service Projects I have realized that if I am one of the people doing a project that we all add up to millions! Even as a budget savvy Mom I still can donate. Shopping at Walmart we were able to find great prices on back to school supplies. We spent almost $26 and got 46 items to donate! I was so happy to be able to give that much stuff to a teacher and her students.
I selected a local elementary school Lichen Elementary to take my donation to. This is a school in my neighborhood where the kids play at the park my son does and as parents we all shop at the same local stores. I wanted to help kids that I may not know but are a part of my community. My son is not old enough for school, to me he is still a baby! :) He sure did love being on the school campus though. He was telling me over and over "Mama, Kids!!" He waved to people, pointed out to me posters and the characters he saw on back packs. He was super excited to be there!
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| My son was running all over her classroom he was so excited. He grabbed a book and climbed into the reading area too. |
We were so excited to meet the 2nd grade teacher, Mrs. Rhodes. We took the giant bag a supplies with all the Elmer's glue products and other supplies to her classroom. (I still think the Elmer's purple disappearing glue is so cool!) Mrs. Rhodes was super nice! Teachers do a tough job and there a many kids in her class that she is responsible for shaping into the future adults of our world. I hope our donation lets her know the community is behind her and we appreciate all she does for our neighborhood kids. She was very thankful for our donation and super sweet to my son. My little guy even shook her hand when we met her. (I have taught him to be a little gentleman and shake someones hand when first meeting them since he was 1) Too cute! I was talking to her about the statistics I read about for teachers expenses for supplies for their own classroom. She told me that yes she does spend a large amount each year for her students. I hope more families and even companies will take part in the Bag It Forward campaign to help teachers and students.
It had been over a decade since I had been in a classroom at an elementary school, since my little sister was in Kindergarten but the joy of a classroom came immediately back. I loved all the posters, books, the little desks and small touches of a teachers personality. I am hoping we will have the chance to come back to Mrs. Rhodes classroom to donate more supplies all year long. I encourage everyone to give back to the community you live in through the Bag It Forward Simple Service Project from Champions for Kids. The teachers and the kids will be grateful for it.
You can read my first blog post about the Champions for Kids Elmer's Bag It Forward project to see the low prices and variety of supplies we purchased for our donation here. #BagItForward #Champions4Kids
You can read my Google+ story for ideas on what to buy for your Elmer's Bag It Forward donation.
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#CBias #SocialFabric All opinions expressed in this post are my own.
