Supporting Those Who Shape the Future: Inside Free 2 Teach
Free 2 Teach is on a mission to empower public school teachers in Limestone and Madison County by equipping them with high-quality supplies and resources, all for free, so that they can ensure that every child in their classroom has access to an excellent education.
Here’s an inside look at the heart of this organization!
What is Free 2 Teach all about? What’s the big mission that drives your work?
We work to support, equip, and empower teachers so that they can meet the needs of every child they work with in our public schools. Our mission is to get school supplies into the hands of teachers so that they can carry out our big vision of ensuring that all children have access to the tools and resources they need to be successful. We do all this to carry out our vision together – with our partners, our teachers, ourm community – to ensure that every child has access to an equitable and excellent education.
Let’s talk impact! What are some of the biggest ways Free 2 Teach has made a difference in the community? Any stories that stand out?
We work across the community to gather and source over $2 million in resources per year that teachers and school staff across five public school systems have access to through our free teacher supply store. We have given away, as a community, over $14 million in supplies since opening our doors in 2011. We don’t just do the basics, but we go beyond, meeting the needs of teachers and working to source their
most requested items. We innovate to make an impact: from our Healthy Kids items (band-aids, soap, paper towel, etc.) to our Free 2 Explore STEM kit program, to our Free 2 Learn feminine hygiene program, to our recently launched Free 2 Play program (sports, games, music equipment and more!), we work hard to source the supplies and tools that teachers need. We do this through a community-centered approach to impact: because of our volunteers, our donors, and in partnership with our teachers, and because of the generosity of our community, we can meet the needs of kids and empower teachers to teach with joy and excellence.
Who do you serve, and what’s something people might not realize about the needs in our community?
We serve public school teachers and school staff across 113 schools in all five public school systems in Madison County and Limestone County with the goal of ensuring that all 75,000 public school children in these schools have access to our resources through their teachers. We support school nurses, speech therapists, librarians, classroom teachers – anyone working in our schools with our students – because we want to remove the financial burden from teachers and families to provide basic supplies and more. We also want to elevate the playing field by sourcing unique, donated items from across the community that help teachers in their lessons and in their work to build strong classroom communities. We want teachers to spend any state funding they receive on high quality items like specialized curriculum or equipment and come to us for the basics and more. We know that nationally, teachers spend on average over $750 a year on classroom materials, and for many of our teachers we know that number is much higher. We also know that adults working across the school building have different levels of funding, and we want to help stand in the gap with our basic school supplies and with the millions of dollars of donated items (rolling chairs, incentives, copy paper, the list goes on!) that our team works to source and distribute every year.
What is the most rewarding part of your work at Free 2 Teach?
It is the time we get to spend with teachers at our teacher shops and with our volunteers and groups we work with all year long to prep the shops. This is an organization built on joyful relationships, and we think
that this vision for collaborative community impact is what is allowing us to grow and serve more teachers and kids. Teachers can come once a month, up to 11 times per year! When they walk in, they are part of our family: we love supporting them, listening to their ideas and stories, hearing about the impact our community is making on them through the work of Free 2 Teach. We love learning what they will do with items they find at our store, and we work hard to share these stories on social media (so follow us there for sure!) to amplify and magnify the powerful work we are supporting in classrooms across the community. It is incredible to hear how their lessons, their school day and their students are impacted by these simple, powerful tools.
For anyone reading this and thinking, “Wow, I want to be a part of this!”—what’s the best way to get involved?
We would love for you to get involved! Your time is so valuable to us, so volunteering during a Tuesday or Thursday teacher shop (we serve 75 teachers during these shops) or on one of our Saturday
morning shops (we serve 135 teachers on Saturday) is a powerful way to get involved. Another way to make an impact is to donate to our work by doing a good garage clean and bringing us any art items, sports items, school supplies, or gently used (small) desks or rolling chairs. Books are also key for us (we gave away $36,000 books last year!!). Financial donations helps support our warehouse operations, paying rent and electricity and supporting the work our team does to source and organize millions of dollars of donations every year. Joining us as a monthly supporter is a special way to stand alongside us as we serve teachers every month of the school year. Thank you!
If you could tell the world ONE thing about Free 2 Teach, what would it be?
I would say we make people smile – genuinely smile – our teachers, our volunteers and our partners across the community. It is powerful to spread joy by working together, every week, every month, to invest in the work teachers do with our kids across our public schools.
Ready to Help Free 2 Teach?
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