BY TODD LUCK
THE CHRONICLE
As any teacher knows, students aren’t the only ones in need of school supplies. Teachers do, too, and that’s something that The Educator Warehouse is trying to help with.
The Educator Warehouse is filled with free supplies Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools teachers can get four times a year. Supplies include both school necessities for children who forgot their supplies or simply couldn’t afford them, and supplies the teachers themselves will use.
Teachers schedule appointments online to come by the Warehouse, which is located in a 16-room pod at Diggs-Latham Elementary School, to “spend” the 25 points they get each quarter on items. Teachers get an average of$100 to $150 of supplies a quarter. Nationally, teachers spend $500 to $800 on school supplies a year, so the Warehouse can be a huge help.
“The school system doesn’t supply teacher’s school supplies; parents and PTAs do,” said Karel Chandler, one of the founding members of the Warehouse, which is a partnership between the school system, Forsyth Education Partnership and Winston-Salem/Forsyth County PTA. “We have to take care of our kids: They’re our future. We want every child to have the proper school supplies for learning at the start of the day and to have an even playing field.”
The Warehouse is run by volunteers and depends on donations to fill its supplies. There are corporate donors like Allen Tate Realty, Reynolds American and Publix.
There are many individual donors, too. On Monday afternoon, Pat Hellinger, a retired math teacher, stopped by the Warehouse. He was cleaning out his home and donated a box of math workbooks he had leftover from his time as an educator. He also donated a bag of tennis balls. The Warehouse has tennis balls that teachers will carve a hole in and place on the bottom of chair legs, so the chairs won’t make as much noise when students slide them across the floor. Chandler said retired teachers are a frequent source of donations.
The donations are sorted by volunteers and eventually end up in one of several rooms. The supply room is often called “Christmas morning” by teachers with a variety of supplies like markers, pencils, glue sticks, stickers, notebooks, paper and even facial tissue. There’s a library room with books to help teachers build their classroom libraries. There is a math and science room along with a language arts and social studies room filled with books and sup-plies to teach both subjects. Jo Ann Fabrics and Craft Store sponsors a room filled with art supplies.
Chandler said the demand has increased since the Warehouse began in 2011, with 1,500 teachers served last year. She said she was appreciative of the continued community sup-port that allows the ware-house to continue to serve teachers.
To donate supplies, contact Chandler at 336-817-1673 or kchan-dler3@nullmsn.com. To make a fiscal donation, go to forsythedpartnership.org/e d/give.
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