Our Fourth Annual Pay-What-You-Can Educator Extravaganza + Resource Fair was Fantastic!
On Saturday, August 8, we held our fourth annual Pay-What-You-Can Educator Extravaganza + Resource Fair in partnership with Austin ISD Sustainability.
In total, we served 129 public educators from 81 different campuses across 20 districts, charter networks, and public schools. Together, they carried home nearly 2,900 pounds of classroom materials, roughly 22 pounds per educator. We distributed approximately $5,107 worth of educational materials with $1,776 in contributions, which means that we gave away approximately $3,331 worth of materials entirely for free.
Here's a breakdown of the most popular items: 318 folders, 223 bundles of construction paper, 157 measuring tools, 132 money sets, 129 bundles of math tiles, 121 packs of notebook paper, 114 binders, 105 storage containers, 97 books, 83 science kits, 82 notebooks, 65 erasers, 64 boxes of crayons, and 60 bulletin board borders.
96 of the participating educators were attending the Extravaganza for the very first time, and we're so glad to have been able to widen our network of educators with this event!
Nearly every educator we spoke with named the same pressure: budget and funding cuts. A first-grade special education teacher said the magnetic ten frames would change how she reaches her visual learners. A science teacher told us the kits she took home would keep a program running that was otherwise ending. A second-year teacher who serves mostly students arriving with nothing in September called the event a "lifeline," because she could fill the backpacks she found here with writing materials and books sourced from the event. Another educator simply called it a "lifesaver." A theater teacher called the pay-what-you-can pricing on hard-to-find items "generous." A Title I educator told us the event was "absolutely necessary" for their campus.
We were also joined at our resource fair by eight local organizations offering free classroom resources and community programs. Huge thanks to these partners: AISD Sustainability, Workforce Solutions, PEAS, City Of Austin Climate Action and Resilience, Keep Austin Beautiful, Ghisallo Cycling Initiative, EcoRise, and Interfaith Action of Central Texas Financial Literacy Program.
Teachers told us the fair was the highlight of their day, and several left knowing about City of Austin grant opportunities they'd had no idea existed.
This event is one of our favorites of the whole year, and we're already looking forward to next year's! Huge thanks to our hard-working employees, incredible volunteers, community partners, and amazing educators for making this event possible!
If you're an educator and you missed it, we are accepting applications for our Materials Mobile, which is a trailer of school supplies that we bring to Austin-area schools so that teachers can select whatever they need for their classrooms at no cost to them! The cost of the visit is normally covered by the school (about $350), but we have scholarships available if cost is a barrier. A core tenet of our mission is to keep supplies out of the landfill and get them into classrooms, so these programs are designed to do just that!