Crayons to Classrooms collects school supplies for classrooms

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By Meredith Moss, Staff Writer 4:03 PM Saturday, May 14, 2011

Studies indicate teachers, on average, spend between $500 and $1,000 of their own money to buy supplies each year for their kids.

“Think about being asked to paint a picture without a brush or play music without an instrument,” said Steve Rubenstein, executive director of Crayons to Classrooms, the nonprofit organization that collects and distributes basic school supplies at no cost to teachers of Dayton area children in need.

The charity serves students who participate in the National School Lunch Program which, according to Rubenstein, is approximately 26,500 children in the greater Dayton area. In addition, there are 1,760 underfunded teachers in 88 schools serving the educational needs of these children.

“If parents are struggling to provide for their children, they clearly have difficulty buying notebooks, pens, crayons,” Rubenstein said.

The group recently celebrated an important milestone: it has distributed more than $1 million in school supplies for teachers to use in their classrooms.

We asked Rubenstein to share a wish list of the items teachers request most often. They are:

• Folders

• Scissors

• Rulers

• Markers

• Notebooks

• Facial tissue

• Pencils

• Pens

• Crayons (24 count)

• Glue sticks

• Filler paper

• Construction paper

If you’d like to gather some of these items, they can be delivered to Crayons to Classrooms, located in the Goodwill Easter Seals Miami Valley facility at 1511 Kuntz Road. Hours of operation are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Call Jim Gabringer at (937) 528- 6402 if you plan to deliver donations.

If your nonprofit organization has a wish list you’d like us to share with our readers, please write to Meredith Moss at mmoss@coxohio.com. Be sure to include a daytime phone

number

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