Kindness is Helping a Teacher with Classroom Supplies

This post is part of #Write31Days where bloggers write every day in October on one topic. I am writing about Acts of Kindness, random and otherwise. It will be interesting to note how I am different and/or how my community is different.

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I just read that 94% of teachers nationwide spend, on average, $479 of their own money each year on classroom supplies. That is a lot of money coming out of their own pockets. Many of these teachers also have children and are paying for supplies for their own children, as well.

These teachers used their own money  because they want their students to have basic supplies and experiences that enhance the quality of their education. They are being kind to their students; kind at a big cost to themselves personally.

Synonyms for kind include the following … thoughtful … considerate … charitable … sympathetic … philanthropic … neighborly … humane … generous … big-heated.

Since 2003 I’ve bought LOTS of school supplies to put into my Operation Christmas Child (OCC) boxes. I get these on sale all year round and have plenty of school items to include with the other gifts (hygiene, toys, clothing) I put inside the boxes.

Several years ago, I thought to ask two teachers I know, if I could get anything for their classrooms. Both needed coloured pencils. One teacher also asked for dry erase markers. This year I thought to ask another teacher friend and she also asked for dry erase markers.

I must confess, I don’t always think about them when I am shopping; whereas, OCC is always on my mind. But I want to change that mindset. I want to be kind to these teachers. So I texted and asked what I can get them. They responded with  . . .

• erasers
• black, dry erase markers
• tissues
• hot chocolate
• pudding cups

A package of dry erase markers, coloured pencils, or tissues are things I can pick up when I grocery shop. Each item is less than $5, but is a huge benefit to my teacher friends, who all work in low-income and high homeless areas.

Sometimes being kind is about having open ears and eyes. And sometimes it is about spending $5 on a school item instead of on a carton of Ben & Jerry’s Cherry Garcia.

Your Turn . . . Do you buy supplies for a teacher’s classroom?  . . . Or have you been oblivious like me? My children are in their 30’s, so it hasn’t even been a thought to be kind in that manner. . . . If you are a teacher and/or already buy for a classroom, what are some items you’d suggest?

You can practice being kind by leaving me a comment. 

My Landing Page for This series . . . Scattering Kindness: A 31 Day Adventure.  Please leave me an idea or two that I can add to my acts of kindness list. The idea can be intentional or random.

Go here for yesterday’s post: Kindness is Baking a Birthday Cake for Someone You Don’t Know

Previous #Write31Days Topics

• MORE vs less: 31 Days of Decluttering 2017
• Finding Laughter: 31 Days of Writing 2015 – Landing Page
• 31 Days of Finishing 2014: Table of Contents & What it is About

Thanks go to Elizabeth Symington for making my #Write31Days button and basic graphic for the kindness quotes. Elizabeth is writing a 31 days series on Summer of Service in Yosemite.