School supplies may not come to mind when you think about children in need, but guess what…they should! I never realized how many students are without the necessary supplies until I volunteered at A Gift For Teaching in Orlando, Florida and learned about teachers using their hard earned money to purchase items for students who can’t afford them. It touched my heart! Education is important, and so is having the necessary tools to learn. I am so thankful for organizations such as this that provide supplies to those in need!
Elmer’s is a quality brand I grew up with! In addition to loving their products, I applaud Elmer’s for the app they developed to helps families share important educational milestones AND donate supplies to those in need. The Elmer’s 1st Day app helps parents capture important firsts and/or events throughout the school year, create keepsakes, and gives the ability to share with loved ones so easy! In addition, the app helps drive donations to Kids In Need Foundation. For every photo uploaded, Elmer’s will donate one product to The Kids in Need Foundation (KINF), up to 200,000 products!
I downloaded the app and took my son to Walmart (ok several Walmart stores until I finally found one prepping their Back To School display).
You can see our google+ album here!
We were on a mission to purchase quality school supplies and create a #BagItForward School Supply donation kit! Afterwards, we planned on dropping out kit off to A Gift For Teaching! We know our efforts will help deserving teachers and students!
It doesn’t take a lot of money to help. I encourage you to join the #BagItForward movement and help your community! When you go shopping for your child’s back to school list, grab a few extra supplies and make a donation!
Here’s our donation! Even though we visited two Walmart stores and made phone calls to several others, we had so much fun!
Think about how many students we can help by donating a few items. Sure an eraser or paper may not seem like much to some, but to a parent who cannot afford it, a child who is embarassed to ask fellow students for extra supplies, and/or for a teacher who is using his or her paycheck to purchase extra supplies it makes a HUGE difference!
My son was excited to deliver our goodies! I love sharing these missions with him, he learns valuable lessons about giving and caring.
We had a wonderful experience delivering our school supplies. The ladies at A Gift For Teaching were so sweet and grateful.
We took a tour of the facilities and my son was excited when he noticed Elmer’s glue sticks on display! Elmer’s made a generous donation to A Gift For Teaching and these are some of the remaining products. The staff was telling me how popular these glue sticks are!
In addition to joining the #BagItForward efforts, I also encourage you to check out the following links.
- BagItForward.org
- Elmer’s on Facebook
- Elmer’s on Twitter
- Bag It Forward on Pinterest
- “1st Day” App download
I have challenged local bloggers and friends to join efforts. I’m coordinating a group session so we can help at A Gift For Teaching. Back to school is a busy time for this organization and they need all the donations and volunteers they can get!
* I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community. This content has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and Elmer’s #BagItForward #CBias.