Question: I saw Wednesday on “CBS This Morning” that public school teachers are getting free school supplies from donors from across the country. Hawaii is not on the receiving list. Can you find out why, and if they could be? It sounds like a great program.
Answer: Hawaii teachers are not intentionally being excluded, it’s just that none have signed up yet, Ben Adam, founder of the “Classroom Giving” project, said in an email to Kokua Line. That’s why Hawaii wasn’t listed, as of Thursday, on the website ClassroomGiving.org, which asks donors which state they would like to help.
“When teachers from Hawaii send requests, I will list them,” said Adam, a New York City businessman who was inspired to act after hearing about an Arizona public-school teacher who earns about $35,000 a year and spends $1,000 of it on basic supplies for her students.
Having personally outfitted that teacher’s classroom, Adam decided to expand the effort, coordinating an online gift registry for educators that he described as “a wedding registry meets secret Santa,” open to donors around the globe.
The Classroom Giving website links donors to wish lists the teachers have created on Amazon; the online retailer delivers purchases to the teacher’s school. There is no minimum purchase or ongoing commitment on a donor’s part, but also no guarantee that a teacher’s request will be fulfilled.
Hawaii teachers who have been paying for classroom supplies or snacks for students out of their own pockets may ask to be listed by going to 808ne.ws/getlisted and following the directions, which involve creating a wish list on Amazon, verifying school employment, contact and delivery information, and emailing the information in the correct format to give@classroomgiving.org.
Teachers also can access instructions from the Classroom Giving homepage by clicking on the link that says “I am a teacher list my classroom.”
The national news story that inspired your question can be seen at it 808ne.ws/cbs15.
Similar websites, such as DonorsChoose.org, already list Hawaii public school projects seeking funding. You can see a current list at 808ne.ws/DChi.
In addition, local schools and groups organize donation drives throughout the year. You might want to check directly with your neighborhood school to see if there’s one going on now that you’d like to support, and whether your donation would be tax-deductible.
Q: On Saturday, we placed canned and packaged food in the blue plastic bag and left it in our mailbox, with the red flag up, for the postman to pick up for the food drive. He came by and left mail for us, but didn’t retrieve the bag, and put the red flag down. Que pasa? Can we leave it in the mailbox again? Or where can we drop it off?
A: Don’t put it back in the mailbox. Please drop off the bag of nonperishable food at the counter of whatever U.S. post office is most convenient for you, said Duke Gonzales, a U.S. Postal Service spokesman. He apologized for the missed pickup, and thanked you for donating to the annual “Stamp Out Hunger” event.
Mahalo
In my rush to buy Foodbank donations, I dropped my credit card. An honest person found it at Foodland Kailua and turned it in. Mahalo. — Helen
Mahalo
Mahalo to Randy and his wife, who found my envelope filled with insurance money in the parking lot of the Pearl City Don Quijote. It must have fallen out when I got out of my car. Thank you to Randy (who didn’t want to leave his last name) for driving all the way to Aiea to give the envelope back to me. I am so thankful for good, honest people. God bless Randy and his family. — Grateful senior
Write to Kokua Line at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Honolulu 96813; call 529-4773; fax 529-4750; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.
