A Gift for Teaching hits $1 million donation mark

Have you ever imagined $100 million? How high would that stack of cash be? What would you do with it? Last week, A Gift For Teaching reached a major milestone of distributing $100 million worth of school supplies since 1998.

While Orange County Public School students were walking home or riding the bus from their first few days of the new school year, their devoted teachers were still working for them. More than a hundred teachers walked through the doors of A Gift For Teaching after school hours last week, each picking up an average of $455 worth of supplies for their high-need students. By the time AGFT’s Free Store closed on Thursday afternoon, the milestone had been reached.

To many of us, those millions of dollars might mean buying a house beyond our wildest dreams, owning as many luxury cars as we desire, or finally traveling to see the Seven Wonders of the World. To Central Florida’s highest-need children, $100 million over the past nearly 18 years means so much more. $100 million is equivalent to AGFT distributing 5 million backpacks filled with supplies to start the new school year. It means that an estimated 4.5 million children have been equipped with the tools they need to succeed in the classroom since 1998. It means that A Gift For Teaching has hosted a total of 250,000 teacher “shopping visits” since its inception. This is all thanks to the tireless work and generous support of the giving community we all call home.

But there is much more work to be done. In Orange County alone, there are an additional 19,000 public school students now qualifying for the free and reduced lunch program this school year. That means their dedicated teachers will either reach into their own pockets to pay for supplies, or utilize A Gift For Teaching’s free services to provide their students with the tools they need to succeed in the classroom. With the rapid growth of need in our community, AGFT has a lofty goal to distribute $10.6 million in supplies throughout this school year in the tri-county area. At this rate, the $200 million milestone will be reached in half the amount of time and AGFT will need the continued help from the community to meet the growing needs and reach the new milestone.

The next time you’re daydreaming about lounging on the deck of an exclusive yacht cruising the Mediterranean, instead picture the genuine smile on a child’s face who has just been given their very own box of crayons. These simple tools provide joy, impact achievement and self-esteem, and provide young minds with a means to creating their own dreams and working hard to fulfill them. As teachers so often tell us, “a student that feels cared for will work harder than one that has to worry or feel ashamed of not having the tools to learn.” And with AGFT’s ability to leverage every $1 received, $10 worth of supplies can be placed back into the classroom and into the hands of students who need them most.

A Gift For Teaching (AGFT) is Central Florida’s primary provider of free school supplies to teachers for their students in need, enabling them to succeed in school and life. A nonprofit organization that serves 369 public schools in Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties, AGFT has distributed $100 million worth of school supplies – including essential classroom tools such as pencils, notebooks, glue, backpacks, art supplies and books – to local students in need since 1998. Learn more at agiftforteaching.org.