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Schools get boost in supplies from Crayons to Classrooms

Group gives districts tools their students need in class

Saville Elementary School second-grade teacher Amanda Gant (left) and her assistant, Bridget Boyce, shop for classroom material at Crayons to Classrooms last week. Staff photos by Jim Noelker

JIM NOELEKR/Crayons to Classrooms Saville Elementary School second-grade teacher Amanda Gant (left) and her assistant, Bridget Boyce, shop for classroom material at Crayons to Classrooms last week. Staff photos by Jim Noelker

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Saville Elementary School second-grade teacher Sara Ramsey looks over school supplies for her classroom at Crayons to Classrooms.

JIM NOELEKR/Crayons to Classrooms Saville Elementary School second-grade teacher Sara Ramsey looks over school supplies for her classroom at Crayons to Classrooms.

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By Cornelius Frolik, Staff Writer 11:50 AM Thursday, August 26, 2010

RIVERSIDE — Examining a DVD of “The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies and Mrs. Tittlemouse,” Sara Ramsey realized she had to resist her natural thriftiness.

This was no time to scrimp.

She scooped up five copies of the movie and dumped them in her shopping cart.

“These are for my treasure box,” said Ramsey, a second-grade teacher at Saville Elementary School. “My kids get stickers for good behavior or for doing things that make them stand out ... so every five stickers they get, they get a trip to the treasure box.”

After a shopping spree last week at Crayons to Classrooms in Dayton, Ramsey filled her treasure box with goodies ranging from DVDs to toys to nifty notebooks. She left the teacher resource center with more than $300 in countertop organizers, dictionaries, folders, paper, pencils, pens, crayons, calculators, scissors and other items for her students.

The best part: It was all free. And not just for Ramsey, either.

About 28 teachers from Saville Elementary visited Crayons to Classrooms to fill up shopping carts with school supplies and goodies to bring back to their students.

Without the charity of the resource center, the teachers said they would have had to dip into their own pocketbooks to pay for supplies for their students, many of whom come from families who are unable to afford such items.

About 80 percent of Saville’s student body receives free or reduced lunches, teachers said.

Since January 2009, Crayons to Classrooms has provided underfunded K-12 schools in the five-county region with free school supplies and resources.

“We want our supplies to go to the kids who can’t afford it, but we distribute them through their teachers because their teachers know best what their students need and it stays in the classroom,” said Steve Rubenstein, executive director of Crayons to Classrooms.

The program, which distributes donated supplies and is funded by donations, currently provides teachers from about 24 local schools with supplies twice a year.

On average, each teacher leaves with about $499 in stuff.

Although Ramsey and other teachers were a little reserved during their first visit to Crayons to Classrooms, Rubenstein said he’s sure their shopping habits will change.

“People who come in for the first time ... they may be just slightly tentative,” he said.

“We just have to encourage them.”

To donate, call (937) 528-6403.

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