Supply Our Schools Is One Year Old
A local non-profit with a national vision was started a year ago by a local mom, Radhika Murari. Radhika had a vision from when she was a small child that she would some day make it easier for disadvantaged children to get an education. In 2008 her vision became a reality as she created Supply Our Schools (SOS) — a charity where “gift registry meets school supplies.”
There are many groups that get supplies for individual students, stuffing backpacks and collecting items, and those are great. SOS has a slightly different take on the concept. Radhika believes that individual teachers know best what they need for their classrooms and that a ‘one size fits all’ concept just doesn’t actually serve their purposes.
SOS operates this way: Individual public school teachers sign up for SOS and make a wish list using the Office Depot on-line catalog. Donors go on the site and peruse the listings to see where they want their money to go. The donors have complete control over their donation. Not only can they read the individual wish lists, but they can see the % of free lunches the teacher has in her/his class (an indicator of the poverty level in a community), and buy as few or as many of the items listed as they wish. SOS completes the purchase using coupons, shopping incentives, etc. to maximize the value of the donation.
All supplies are sent to the teacher via the administrative office of the teacher’s school but with that teacher’s name on it. Teachers are required to post acknowledgements and thank yous. One teacher in Mississippi recently sent an entire classroom worth of thank you notes to the SOS head office (Radhika’s living room) — using the markers that a donor had purchased.
Another teacher has really figured it out — she has asked her friends and family members to become donors through SOS for her classroom. Now she gets exactly what she needs and they know they are truly giving her what she wants. Let’s face it, by the time we’re 25, we’re up to here in ‘cute’ gifts from family members for holiday occasions. This is a great way to ask family members to redirect their efforts — and they get the tax write-off!
SOS is all about getting supplies into the teachers’ hands so they can worry less about how they’ll be supplied and focus more on educating kids. SOS is also about transparency. It is completely non-profit — no one makes a cent off it. The website costs are covered by the Muraris as one of their donations to the charity.
Radhika Murari LOVES to talk about SOS. If your group needs a speaker with enthusiasm and a great cause, get in touch with her through the website.
www.supplyourschools.org
It is nice to know that in a world that seems focused on greed, there are people truly trying to make a difference. Check it out!