Teachers’ Supply Closet Cuts Down on Salary Costs to Get Closer to Goal

By Diette Courrege, The Post and Courier, Charleston, S.C.

Jul. 15–Sanders-Clyde Elementary School teacher Donna Wooten hasn’t done the math, but she knows she spends hundreds of dollars each year on supplies for her classroom.

She buys just about every item her high-poverty students use, including pencils, crayons, paper and snacks.

“The school does the best it can, but we buy a lot,” she said. “You’re probably going to get me in trouble with my husband!”

When the Teachers’ Supply Closet opened this past spring and gave her free classroom materials, Wooten said she couldn’t have been more grateful.

“It was amazing,” she said. “Anytime we can get something that I don’t have to buy out of my grocery fund is wonderful.”

The Teachers’ Supply Closet is a nonprofit that gives teachers who work with poor students basic supplies. The store allows teachers to “shop” in exchange for a few hours of volunteer time at the West Ashley store. It appears to be the only store of its kind in the state.

The store opened for about two months this past school year to six Charleston County elementary schools where more than 95 percent of its students live in poverty. Those schools — Chicora, Dunston, Fraser, Hursey, Mary Ford and Sanders-Clyde — employ about 190 teachers and serve about 2,000 students.

The store hopes to give teachers more opportunities this coming school year to shop, said Dorothy Harrison, president of the governing board for the Teachers’ Supply Closet.

The larger goal is to serve schools in Berkeley, Charleston and Dorchester counties where at least 70 percent of its students live in poverty, but the group first needs enough items for six schools, Harrison said.

“We want them to be able to come in and get supplies for the entire class,” she said.

The relatively new nonprofit is trying to establish partnerships and ensure a steady stream of supplies, Harrison said. Teachers haven’t been able to take as much as they need, she said.

“We’re trying to gear up to make sure we have a system in place to replenish supplies,” she said. “We don’t have a steady stream of supplies.”

The nonprofit’s board has decided to cut down on salary costs by hiring part-time employees for specific projects, such as coordinators for a family-friendly fundraiser, corporate partnerships and store oversight. The store closed for the summer but will reopen the second week of school.

Wooten said her school’s students need everything from shoes to breakfast to pencils, and the money doesn’t go far. The state provides about $275 to teachers, but that will be spent before school begins, she said.

Wooten said she looks forward to going to the Teachers’ Supply Closet again.

“I want them to feel like they’re getting everything that every other child gets,” she said. “It is such a gift to us to help us help our kids.”

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