Submitted by Diana Hanford
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — It is estimated that teachers will spend more than $820 on classroom supplies this year including books, snacks, pencils, paper and cleaning products. To help ease that burden for teachers and families, Broward Education Foundation, the only 501(c)3 charitable organization solely dedicated to serving students and teachers in Broward County Public Schools, has launched its annual school supply drive which equips students with essential supplies and the necessities for success.
Last year, Broward Education Foundation provided school supplies to 130,000 under-resourced students in nearly 200 Broward County Title I schools and classroom supplies for 12,000 teachers in Broward County Public Schools.
“A little change can make a big impact,” said Jean McIntyre, board chair of Broward Education Foundation. “For these students, school supplies are a luxury, and we are so grateful for the community’s help in getting our students off to a great start this fall.”
According to 90% of teachers surveyed by the national non-profit Kids in Need Foundation, three out of four students arrive to class without the requisite school supplies necessary for learning.
“More than 200,000 students in Broward County live in poverty which makes our School Supply Drive so important,” said Shea Ciriago, CEO of Broward Education Foundation. “We all want the best for our students, and we want to give them what they need to succeed. This past fiscal year, the school supplies we donated were valued at more than $2 million, and with the help of the companies and individuals in our community, we can surpass that amount this year.”
How to help
Donate monetarily to browardedfoundation.org/drive.
Collect school supplies at your business or organization. Donations can be dropped off at the Broward Education Foundation School Supply Center at 2300 W. Copans Road in Pompano Beach, or call to have them picked up.
Interested in hosting a supply drive? Call the Broward Education Foundation School Supply Center at 754-321-9020 or email mari-lee.baxter@browardschools.com.
Host a virtual drive within
your organization
$10 can supply 200 pencils to help support student learning
$35 can provide a student with a backpack filled with essential school supplies
$100 can support a teacher with essential classroom tools and resources
$250 can provide art supplies for an entire classroom
The school supplies needed most include backpacks, compositions books (black), crayons, erasers (pink rectangular), folders (2 pocket), glue, glue sticks, hand sanitizer (individual), highlighters, hole punchers (single), index cards (3”x5”), markers, notebook paper (3-hole), pencil pouches, pencil sharpeners, pencils (#2 with erasers), pencils (mechanical), pens (black and blue ink), rulers, scissors (children’s), spiral notebooks (wide-ruled) and tape (clear).
