A special project with Tools 4 Teaching, a program of our local public education foundation, was selected by the club members. Tools 4 Teaching was created by the education foundation to provide teachers with free classroom supplies and books since many parents are unable to continually purchase these basic items for their children. Community organizations, businesses and individuals donate supplies that are transformed into classroom learning materials and made available to all 3,500 public school teachers through a voucher system at the Tools 4 Teaching “store.” Organized to look like an actual store, Tools 4 Teaching is centrally located at the Thelma Parker Center, named in honor of one of our charter Altrusians. The club stocks three bookshelves at the Tools 4 Teaching store with books and school supplies, the shelf is named for another club charter member, Juanita Cunningham. This project has two important objectives: 1) to impact the supply shortage experienced by our teachers at area public schools, many of whom purchase books and classroom materials with their own funds, and 2) to promote Altrusa name recognition and our staunch support of literacy. Many of the books provided by Altrusa are purchased through our partnership with the First Book organization. First Book is a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing educational opportunities for low-income children through services that include the sale of books at reduced prices. Supplies, e.g., paper, crayons, pencils, etc. were collected directly from our members or through supply drives members held at their local businesses. Over $2,000 was spent on books that were combined with the donated materials. At least one member oversees Juanita’s Bookshelf and coordinates with the Tools 4 Teaching staff to ensure the shelf is always full and contains relevant and useful items. The Literacy Committee monitors the book and supply inventory and notifies the membership of shelf “sales” and most requested materials at monthly meetings and through the club newsletter. Altrusa was originally given three shelves to stock at the store but our allotted space continues to expand over time. The public education foundation tracks the number of visits made to the Tools 4 Teaching store and the items purchased through the voucher system and provides these reports to our club. In 2017, 6,500 visits from teachers at 52 schools “shopped” the Tools 4 Teaching store and shared with their students over 4,000 books, of which 1,209 had been donated by Altrusa. We continue to provide funds, supplies and at least 1,000 books each year.
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