COLLIER COUNTY, Fla. — On average, $750 was spent on school supplies by teachers last year.
Historically, it's the highest amount ever spent according to the Adopt-A-Classroom website.
“When you think about things that you want for the classroom, there are things we were looking for even yesterday that Amazon currently doesn't have,” Dr. Cindy Gomez, Collier County Public Schools District TSA said. “So we have to be creative.”
Dr. Gomez talks about the challenges teachers face when trying to come by school supplies.
“Teachers have the ability to say, 'well I'm going to get creative. This is the way I still can make it happen,'” Gomez said. “But I need A B and C.”
Teachers are able to get grants for supplies to create innovative projects and more for students with the help of the Classroom Grant Opportunity portal held by Champions For Learning.
“They can write that grant up to $2,000 and say 'this is what I want to do, and this is how many students that it's going to reach.'” Gomez said.
“It is also an incredible opportunity for our community to get to know our teachers,” Amy Snyder, Director of Educators Programs for Champions For Learning said.
Snyder said residents are able to see what teachers may need and how they can help out.
“The supplies needed to do a school garden and someone who's excited about gardens is going to say, 'hey I'm going to get on that,'” Snyder said. “'I'm going to make sure that the school can have this opportunity.'”
“It’s a great way for teachers to reach lots of students in a variety of ways,” Gomez said.
The classroom grant portal is open to the community, anyone is able to donate and see a list of classroom grant requests.
Click here to view the list or to donate.
