Teacher Store: Bridging The Gap

Every year, teachers spend an average of $500 out of pocket to supply their classrooms and provide students with the tools needed to succeed. Most of these teachers will never be reimbursed.

To help bridge this gap, Feed the Children supports students by inviting teachers to shop for free classroom supplies, books, resources, and even snacks at one of our five Teacher Store locations. These stores benefit more than 525,000 students across the country each school year.

In 2020, the coronavirus changed how we work, but it didn’t lessen the need. We brainstormed ways to balance helping teachers with keeping them safe and came up with a new model: the pop-up Teacher Store.

In years past, teachers have gathered at our five Teacher Store locations to shop for supplies and essentials. In order to comply with social distancing practices, our pop-up Teacher Stores provided the opportunity to distribute supplies and essentials to local communities without requiring teachers to drive long distances and wait in crowded lines. Some pop-up stores were held under large open-air tents, while others were held at indoor venues with limited entry and temperature checks.

The impact of these supplies on students’ wellbeing can’t be overestimated. One school principal told us, “It helps them just have more confidence. We see that if they have those items that they need, that we have a higher attendance rate and less of the social ramifications and arguing and bickering and fighting and being made fun of. So I think that’s important. Social and emotional health right now is just as important as the education we’re providing them.”

To learn more about the Feed the Children Teacher Store, visit our Teacher Store page. https://www.feedthechildren.org/resources/teacher-store/