Tools For Schools is our longest running Community Service Project. We support Literacy in the Educational setting, by equipping students with the “tools” (school supplies), needed to enhance the learning process. Over the years, more than a million school supplies have been purchased for distribution, which include items such as: pencils, crayons, erasers, colored pencils, notebooks, rulers, glue, glue sticks, scissors and paper. To be able to purchase these items, Altrusa of Mansfield holds a major Fundraiser, supported by our Community, for this worthwhile cause. Goals reaching upwards of $35,000 are raised, to meet the ever-growing school supply needs of our area teachers and students. Our Tools For Schools Committee then purchases the school supplies, while Club members count, sort, stack and organize the shelves, located in a mini-warehouse setting. Letters are sent out to local schools, and teachers fax to us, their completed “Tools” request forms. Our “Filling Sessions”, involving many volunteer service hours, begins in early August and continues throughout the year as needs arise. Once an entire school order is filled, the schools are contacted to pick up orders or Club members make personal trips to the schools to make sure the supplies reach the teachers and into the hands of students. We have received many thank you letters from classroom teachers, stating their appreciation for releasing the financial burden, from having to purchase much needed supplies themselves. It was stated, “Altrusa of Mansfield is a blessing to my students, who without the “Tools for Schools Program”, would have had nothing to jump start them with their learning and onto a successful school year.’
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Altrusa International Service Projects