Kids in Need Foundation provides $1 million in school supplies to Minnesota teachers

The Kids in Need Foundation gifted $1 million worth of school supplies to teachers in need.

Taking place at the Kids in Need Foundation’s headquarters in Little Canada, the “Thanks a Million” event brought together teachers from across the state, who were each gifted around $1,000 in school supplies to take back to their classrooms.

The group said the supplies went to teachers at higher-needs schools, districts where 50 percent or more of students would qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.

Rachelle Oxborough, the foundation’s director of public relations, said school supplies can make a major difference for students, some of whom do not begin classes with the materials they need.

“School supplies can be completely transformative for a child and their education, when a student can walk in on that first day of school,” Oxborough said. “A majority of students in these schools do not start the school year with school supplies, so when they can start with everything they need, they can step into their education in a totally different way.”

Sabrina Jones, a social worker at Harambee Elementary School in Maplewood, came to pick up supplies for teachers at her school on Saturday.

“But a lot of just writing materials, from the markers to the crayons to just the writing pads, which is just amazing…and also cleaning supplies, because you can’t have enough cleaning supplies for all seasons,” Jones said.

Programs like “Thanks a Million” support teachers financially by providing free classroom materials, rather than having teachers pay out of pocket for their students.

The National Education Association said teachers spend an average of $500 to $900 a year out of pocket on classroom supplies.

“I mean it’s one in a million, this really shows the support that Kids in Need have for teachers in general, school, everything…you can’t like buy this….this is just amazing,” Jones said.