Desert Oasis- Richland Pasco Kennewick

Try real hard to find anyone who says they don’t support improving schools, enhancing the educational experience of the kids in their hometown, or who doesn’t want to help teachers make their classrooms a rich, vibrant learning environment.

That’s never the case. Unfortunately, many people just can’t take that vision of doing the right thing and put it in the same picture frame along with the local school districts ability to adequately distribute the taxpayer approved bond funds to bring the idea to fruition. It’s a shame. It’s why we see bonds fail, even when they make perfect sense.

What we need is a conduit from our wallets to the teachers who need just a small amount of funds for a specifice classroom need or project- a way to see a real Tri City classroom need and contribute directly to the teacher that actually needs it.

There is a way to make this happen. It’s called Donor’s Choose.

I’ve set a scrolling box on this blog’s front page specifically set to projects here in the Tri Cities area posted by our local teachers. As I get the word out, this sidebar box will start to fill up. I sincerely encourage you to check back often to see these needs and begin, in even a small way, to make a difference at the local level in our classrooms.

Before I describe the program, I’m going to provide a couple of links here.  After you’ve read the description below, I want you to come back up here and follow the links as follows:

If you are a teacher and have a project or need, please go HERE

If you want to donate to local schools, please go HERE

This is how the program works, quoted directly from the Donor’s Choose website:

DonorsChoose.org is dedicated to addressing the scarcity and inequitable distribution of learning materials and experiences in our public schools. We believe this inequity is rooted in the following factors:

1. Shortages of learning materials prevent thorough, engaging instruction;
2. Top-down distribution of materials stifles our best teachers and discourages them from developing targeted solutions for their students; and
3. Small, directed contributions have gone un-tapped as a source of funding.

DonorsChoose.org will improve public education by engaging citizens in an online marketplace where teachers describe and individuals can fund specific student projects. We envision a nation where students in every community have the resources they need to learn.

DonorsChoose.org performs a good deal of work to ensure the integrity of its philanthropic marketplace. Here’s how it works:

1. Public school teachers create student project proposals at DonorsChoose.org. This consists of writing a one page essay and listing the exact resource(s) needed.
2. DonorsChoose.org volunteers screen each project proposal before posting to the website. Volunteers verify that the teacher and project meet our eligibility requirements, emailing follow-up questions to the teacher if anything is unclear.
3. Concerned individuals fund the student projects of their choice—in whole or in part—and are emailed immediate email gift acknowledgments from DonorsChoose.org which can be used for tax deduction purposes.
4. DonorsChoose.org emails the school principal, alerting him/her to the funded project.
5. Within the next week, DonorsChoose.org forwards the donor an “e-thank-you” from the teacher, which notes the date by which the donor can expect his/her full thank-you package.
6. DonorsChoose.org purchases the student materials and ships items directly to the school along with guidelines for preparing thank-you packages, and a stamped envelope in which to enclose the feedback.
7. Students experience the project that the donor made possible! The teacher photographs the students participating in the project and writes an Impact Letter to the donor. Students write their own thank-you notes which are then returned to DonorsChoose.org headquarters.
8. DonorsChoose.org ensures that photos and the teacher’s Impact Letter are posted to the website, and sends student letters to the donor(s) who completed the project or made a partial contribution of $100 or more.

Please visit the site, and contribute towards making our Tri City Washington schools the best learning environment possible for our children.