Thank You to Ruth's Reusable Resources, Davenport Trust, and Yoobi

Early this morning I took the 100 minute round trip to Ruth's Reusable Resources in South Portland, Maine.  Ruth's is a place where teachers may go and select recycled resources for their students for FREE provided that they have a subscription.  We are extremely fortunate in our district to have a subscription to Ruth's.  Our subscription is paid for annually by Davenport Trust.  Two of the multiple goals of Davenport Trust are to provide support that benefits the young and needy children of Bath, Maine, and to grant scholarships to area high school graduates.  I am grateful for the over $3,000.00 that Davenport Trust has paid towards the undergraduate college tuition for my three children. 

Ruth's is a hit or miss kind of place, sometimes you can find exactly what you want, sometimes they don't have exactly what you're looking for, and sometimes you hit an outright bonanza of materials for your students.  Today I hit the jackpot and came home with a treasure trove of school supplies for my students.

As I entered, I noticed lots and lots of huge boxes stacked to the right.  Everyone was scrambling to get one; this is what mine looked like on my hearth after I got it home. 

The box came with a letter inside:

This is how the letter begins:

"Dear Yoobi Teacher,

This letter is for you.

We want to say an extra special thank you for all that you do for your kids.  For all the glue sticks you bought to cement your kids' imaginations, for all the crayons you provided to color their dreams, and for the countless hours you dedicate after the closing bells rings, we thank you.

We're excited to present you and your students with a Yoobi Classroom Pack.  At Yoobi, our motto is, "One for you.  One for me," which means that for every Yoobi school supply that is purchased, another Yoobi item is contributed to a Yoobi Classroom Pack, which is donated to a classroom in need, right here in the U.S."

Here are the pictures of what was included:

90 3-packs of #2 pencils

30 erasures, 30 5-packs of crayons, 30 5-packs of colored pencils, 30 Yoobi stickers

60 glue sticks, 30 5-packs of markers

30 glue bottles, 30 pencil sharpeners, 30 rulers, 30 pencil cases.

There were also Yoobi folders.  This is what each child's supplies look like when tucked into the pencil case. 

I visited the Yoobi website (Yoobi.com) to learn about their mission and this is what I found out.  For the 2014-2015 school year, Yoobi's goal is to donate 30,000 K-3 classroom packs just like mine to classrooms in need.  If you visit them, please take a minute to listen to their one minute video.  I learned that teachers in the U.S. spend 1.6 billion dollars on school supplies per year, or $485.00 per teacher per year. 

I cannot wait to feel the excitement when my students receive their supplies.  

Thank you to Ruth's Recyclable Resources, Davenport Trust, and Yoobi.