feature stories
Supplies party!
Jun 8, 2006 4:05 PM
Teachers find source for lots of freebies
It’s Christmas in springtime for (front, from left) Maritza Rohan of IS 143 and Emmanuela Gallego and Stephanie Sohmers of PS 93 in the Bronx as they help themselves to free binders for portfolios. Looking on are (rear, from left) Luis Jimenez, Teacher Resource Center director, and Marty Plotkin, UFT District 6 representative.
Everybody loves a sale. But thousands of city teachers have scored one even better than a sale. They’ve discovered freebies!
They’ve filled gigantic shopping bags with $1.86 million worth of donated school supplies for nothing.
Nada.
Free!
Carol Plotkin, chapter leader at IS 528 in Manhattan, described shopping bags “so heavy we had to drag them.”
Teachers at PS 115, Manhattan, smartened up after their first visit this year to the Teacher Resource Center at the Storehouse at East 136th Street in the south Bronx. The second time around they brought vans to get those huge and heavy shopping bags back to their school.
PS 115 Chapter Leader Myra Cruz said the resources available to teachers are “things you can really use in the classroom: crayons, pencils, very nice pens, markers, sharpeners and much, much more.”
Forty teachers joined her on their first visit, but that number jumped to 70 for the second round after everyone saw what a bonanza they had access to.
“For me to see binders for portfolios there free — wow,” she said. “Everything to me was special because I’m so used to not having enough supplies. We’re short on supplies big time here.”
The goal of the Teacher Resource Center, part of World Vision U.S., is to bring assistance to schools in under-resourced communities by providing materials students need. So the 35,000-square-foot warehouse is open only to teachers in Title I schools in northern Manhattan and all of the Bronx (this information was incorrect in the print version of the New York Teacher).
Arrangements must be made ahead of time for a school visit and all visits take place after school from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday. Schools are welcome to visit the center twice a year.
If a school meets the criteria, it should not hesitate to make an appointment, Plotkin said.
“My teachers were very happy on this first trip,” Plotkin explained. “Everything the science teacher saw she knew she could use and, since I’m a librarian, I took a bagful of wonderful books.
“We can’t wait for the next time,” she added.
Cruz described the delight of the art teacher with “the tons of stuff” she got.
Both chapter leaders spoke of the “generous and friendly” atmosphere at the center where regular staff and volunteers are on hand to help and to invite you back.
Students are, of course, delighted with the new materials — the center has benefited more than 78,000 children — and they send thank-you notes which are distributed to the donors who provide all the supplies.
The Storehouse also distributes donated new items such as building materials, clothing and household goods through community organizations to help children and families as well as students.
For more information, send an e-mail to lujimene@worldvision.org.
Those shopping bags are getting fuller and heavier as teachers help themselves to a wide assortment of classroom supplies at the Storehouse warehouse in the South Bronx.
