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May 23, 2006
Calling All Public School Teachers in L.A., Hawthorne, Inglewood and Compton
In a perfect world, our public schools would have enough funding to buy sufficient textbooks, supplies, field trips, and other resources for every child in every school. But this is not a perfect world -- too many kids don't have enough basic supplies. Enter DonorsChoose. It was started six years ago by Charles Best, a high school social studies teacher in the Bronx. In a nutshell, it provides a web-based venue for public school teachers to request funds for books, field trips, supplies, etc. Visitors to the website can scan all of the requests and choose those they want to support. It's a simple idea, and it's working: since 2000, visitors to DonorsChoose have donated nearly $7 million to more than 400,000 students around the country. DonorsChoose only serves selected areas, because there are costs involved with expanding to new regions. It expanded into southern California last fall -- teachers in the LA Unified, Hawthorne, Inglewood and Compton School Districts can submit requests. Since DonorsChoose became available in our area, more than $200,000 has been donated to 11,500 students. And check this out: DonorsChoose has collected $500,000 to give away to teachers in the LA Unified, Hawthorne, Inglewood and Compton School Districts above and beyond any individual contributions that may come in. So if you're a public school teacher in one of those districts, check out DonorsChoose and learn how to submit a request for funding. If you know a public school teacher in one of those districts, tell him or her to check out DonorsChoose.
Posted by Paul Glickman at 3:43 PM
