From early August to late September, moms and kids across the country are gripped by the excitement of back-to-school season. Shopping for all the right materials, supplies and, of course, hottest styles, the anticipation of a new school year is palpable in the air. I love the back-to-school season.
But not all moms are able to afford the supplies their students need on the first day of school, and as a mom that breaks my heart. School is tough enough without having to compound it with adult problems like money. How can we, as a society, expect kids to succeed and excel in school when they are worried about adult problems and can’t even start the year with a fresh start and new supplies like most of our children are able to without a second thought? We can’t. That’s why organizations like the Kids in Need Foundation exist, to help relieve the burden of school on parents and teachers by providing school supplies to teachers through a “free” store. (Locally, the Kids in Need Foundation supports A Gift for Teaching located in Orlando and Sanford. I was introduced to this organization through a childhood friend who worked there. It is an amazing organization, and if you have extra supplies to donate I recommend taking your supplies there.)
Because this is something I feel so passionately about, I use this blog to chronical my own shopping adventures to “Bag it Forward.” At the end of a five week period, I accumulated all of the supplies in the picture below for less than $30 (of my own money), to be donated to one of the poorest elementary schools in our district. Along with the other moms in my local moms club who participated, we were able to supply more than 40 children with the supplies they needed for the year.
This back-to-school season Elmer’s has partnered with the Kids in Need Foundation, and you can help supply kids with free Elmer’s products with a few simple clicks of your mouse. Through September 1, 2011 for every person who “likes” Elmer’s on Facebook or follows Elmer’s on Twitter, Elmer’s will donate one Elmer’s product to the Kids in Need Foundation. (Currently, the Facebook page has 12,473 likers and Twitter has 1,970 followers- that’s a lot of glue!) PLUS Elmer’s will make an additional donation for every person who watches the video on the Kids in Need tab on its Facebook page. That’s three easy ways to have Elmer’s products donated on your behalf to Kids in Need without costing you a dime!
GIVEAWAY – To help encourage everyone to take those three simple steps to donate Elmer’s products to the Kids in Need Foundation, THREE lucky readers will win an Elmer’s prize pack that includes everything in the picture below (the all-new Elmer’s X-TREME School Glue Stick, Small foam tri-fold, Project Popperz, Mini bi-fold foam, Disappearing purple glue sticks, Gel school glue sticks, School glue and a School glue dual tip pen).
FYI – I plan to donate my Elmer’s prize pack to A Gift for Teaching. So enter for your kids or enter to donate your prize!
To enter – Please use the Rafflecopter form below to take advantage of your entry opportunities.
Disclosure – I was provided an Elmer’s prize pack in consideration for this post, however, all thoughts and opinions are my own.
This is great! I love Elmer’s products!
It’s amazing that students in our own community in America can’t even do their homework because they don’t have the tools to do so. Giving students the tools means giving them the chance to succeed even when their economic status or life situation opposes success. Thanks for spreading the word about these great organizations and for encouraging others to give back!
The instructions say that the Rafflecopter instructions will tell us what to comment about, but I don’t see that anywhere. So I’m not sure what kind of comment you’re looking for. I have accumulated a boxful of extra school supplies, but I’m not sure where to take them!
(Also, I apparently clicked an extra time when entering via Twitter follow, so it didn’t take my Twitter username. It’s @titus2homemaker.)
Hi Rachel, sorry about that! I usually make leaving a comment on the post a requirement (hence the instructions), but since my goal is to get more people to do the easy steps to donate supplies, I actually decided to remove the comment requirement for this giveaway. (I will fix the instructions now.) Just do the things in the Rafflecopter form and you are good to go!
If you are local to the Orlando area, I highly recommend taking your supplies to a Gift for Teaching – you can get the address in the link within the post. If you aren’t local, check the Kids in Need site to see if there is a location near you. Or if nothing else, you can always take them directly to the school. Call first, but I know those in our area that are especially hurting will never turn down supplies, and they can get them into the hands of those who need them!
I love that you do this. Isn’t it amazing how one small thing can make such a difference?