This post has been sponsored by Staples, Inc. to share how we can support public education and help teachers! All opinions are 100% our own.
The school year is well under way, and teachers and students across the country are back in full swing! This year, thanks to an incredible campaign initiated by Staples, many teachers and students across the country had a surprising start to their year.
This past April, Staples announced (here on Dallas Moms Blog) that they would be partnering with DonorsChoose.org to encourage the public to help teachers in the classroom by making a donation to StaplesForStudents.com.
Through DonorsChoose.org, a teacher or school can set up a project and identify the materials they need to help provide a better learning environment and request donations to their project. Projects that need request funding might include a school for the bind & deaf that needs storybooks or a classroom in Wichita Falls that would like help purchasing wobble balls to help keep kids focused and moving. Anyone can provide a donation, and then once the school or teacher’s goal is met, those items are purchased through the website! There’s no wondering what your donation went towards. You see directly how your donation benefited a teacher, school, and their students.
To kick it off the campaign and help raise awareness for the cause, Staples teamed up with Katy Perry and made a $1,000,000 donation to DonorsChoose.org! With this donation, Staples funded 1,072 classroom projects across the country, providing 787 teachers in 402 schools with their classroom needs, and impacting 98,609 students.
In addition, through customer purchases made in-store and online, more than $330,000 was donated to DonorsChoose.org through Staples stores and www.StaplesForStudents.com.
“This year marks the third time that we’ve worked with Staples to help teachers make more happen, and we’ve again heard directly from teachers that Staples and DonorsChoose.org have made a lasting impact on their classrooms.” ~ Charles Best, founder of DonorsChoose.org
The Staples Donation to Dallas Teachers
Then in July, Staples made another HUGE announcement to the city of Dallas! Using a portion of the donations to this campaign, Staples funded the balance of every project listed on DonorsChoose.org in Dallas. With a donation of $185,155, Staples helped 212 Dallas teachers make more happen in local classrooms, impacting more than 33,000 students in the community.
Educators like Mrs. Hatcher at W E Greiner Explor Arts Academy received 9 Kindle Fires for students in her Advancement Via Individual Determination program. Many students in this program will be the first in their families to attend college and don’t have internet access in their homes. The Kindle Fires gave her students instant internet access in class in order to access information such as college and career research projects, information for tutorials and taking virtual tours of college campuses.
And the Winner Is . . .
In addition to the $1,000,000 donation from Staples, Staples and Katy Perry continued the fun through September! Between June – September, customers who spent $25 or more in any Staples store received a unique entry code on their receipt to enter to win a $50,000 scholarship GRAND PRIZE plus a trip for two to Los Angeles to meet Katy Perry in person! In addition, four 1st prize winners would be chosen to travel to Los Angeles (with a guest!) for 2 nights and spending money to meet Katy Perry at the VIP Winners Celebration.
Last Thursday, on October 13th, Katy Perry presented the grand prize winner of the Staples for Students Sweepstakes, Patricia O’Keefe and her son Matthew, Deep River, Conn., with a $50,000 scholarship at a Winners VIP Celebration in Los Angeles. Matthew is a senior in high school and is currently applying to colleges for enrollment in fall 2017.
To learn more information about this campaign and the results it had in the community, visit StaplesforStudents.com. To be alerted to new and upcoming promotions, visit Staples on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram!
