From classroom to community, one local Macaroni KID publisher found new use for old school supplies and materials to distribute to more than 8 local groups and organizations.
What started last year as a simple action to take unused school supplies and materials to rehome rather than trashed, escalated quickly. For the second year in a row my living room was turned into a little bit of chaos for over a week.
At the end of the year teachers typically clean out their classrooms. For a number of reasons there are many school materials, tools, and even school supplies that go unused and over time these accumulate. While many teachers hold onto these items for future use or place them in a centralized location for others to take, there simply isn’t enough storage to hold onto it all. As they need to make room for new incoming supplies these items would be thrown out if not picked up. I decided to take whatever was still in great shape and usable and give it back locally.
You would be surprised by some of the unconventional ways these supplies and materials can be very useful. Dozens of bottles of glue had been left that were barely used or never even opened. We (myself and the help of my kids) filled up a box with the numerous bottles. I knew Acadia Parish libraries often host slime lab activities for the kids and can you guess what’s the primary ingredient necessary to make slime? Glue!
It took multiple trips loading up my vehicle with supplies and classroom materials. Over the last week I was able to deliver them to many different organizations that were happy to receive them including: Sunshine Bleu Academy, Les Petite Bleus, Boys & Girls Club in Opelousas, Hope for Opelousas, Ecole-St. Landry, Hearts of Hope Center, Acadia Parish 4-H, the Gifted program, and local homeschool co-ops.
Additional school supplies that were left over will be distributed for community school drives.
I understand that for many reasons there are supplies and learning tools that go unused or no longer needed in classrooms. It is my hope that more schools can find use for these at the end of the school year and bring awareness to community organizations that can use them!
About Macaroni KID Acadia-St. Landry
Macaroni KID Acadia-St. Landry is a hyper-local newsletter bringing news on upcoming events and family-friendly activities, as well as helpful guides for parents. As the local publisher for the Acadia-St. Landry area I connect with families and many organizations in our community for family fun things to do and helpful resources parents are searching for.
