Back to School campaign provides local non-profit with school supplies for teachers

DAYTON — Students and teachers in need will have supplies going into the new school year.

News Center 7′s Malik Patterson was at Crayons to Classrooms Monday morning when dozens and dozens of school supplies were delivered thanks to Morris Home and Ashley Furniture and the loyal viewers of WHIO-TV.

The large amount of donations gathered this past weekend, helped the story to be fully stocked right as the school year begins.

Malena Jackson, Marketing Coordinator for Crayons to Classrooms said, “Every teacher that comes through these doors has their pockets and wallets untouched. Everything is free to them.”

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Great Backpack Give Back

The Great Backpack Give Back campaign is Crayons to Classrooms’ way of getting supplies for teachers in low-income schools.

Jessica Ryan, Communications Specialist for Morris Home said, “We’re really passionate about giving back to our communities.”

In 2022, Crayons to Classrooms received more than $33,000 worth of supplies and cash donations, and they expect this year to be better.

Steve Rubinstein, Executive Director of Crayons to Classrooms said, “Having two locations, just kind of doubled the impact. We haven’t tabulated the results yet, but it looks very significant and better than last year.”

Most of the cash donations goes back into the program.

“91 cents out of a dollar goes straight back into this program, into teachers, pouring into them so that they don’t have to use their money to purchase supplies for their classrooms,” Jackson said.

Allowing each teacher to leave with nearly $2,000 worth of supplies.

Darren Moore, Vice President/General Manager for WHIO-TV/Cox Media Group Ohio said, “This is a big time of the year when these teachers are coming in here getting those supplies for those classrooms so these students can learn in an environment that’s wonderful.”

Teachers can come and pick up supplies three times a week by appointment.

Correction: A previous version of the story contained an incorrect number for the dollar amount of school supplies teachers were able to obtain at Crayons to Classrooms. The number has been corrected and is $2,000 worth of supplies each teacher is able to leave with.

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