Celebrities Are Leading a Campaign to Buy School Supplies for Teachers. Here's How You Can Help
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A social media shoutout to teachers who have to pay out of pocket to buy school supplies has morphed into a viral campaign that's the best feel-good story of the season.
Ed Droste, frontman for the Brooklyn indie rock band Grizzly Bear, launched a 10-day giveaway via Instagram at the end of August with the #10featuredteachers hashtag. Droste said he came up with the idea after finding out that teachers can spend hundreds of dollars a year out of their own pockets to outfit their classrooms with supplies.
Droste highlighted 10 teachers from around the country and directed people to their Amazon wish lists. Instagram users responded generously, and Droste followed up with some updates of the thrilled recipients getting Amazon boxes full of supplies. Actresses Busy Phillipps and Kiernan Shipka have also joined the cause.
Droste used Instagram's "story" feature, which is for temporary posts, but we've gone through the archives so you can see the original 10 teachers' wish lists all below, if you'd like to contribute to any (or all!) of them.
Since then, a slew of other celebrities have taken up the cause beyond the initial group of teachers featured by Droste. The #10featuredteachers hashtag is still going strong on Twitter, so if you want to show a little love to a teacher who's not on this list, browse away until you find one whose subject, location or passion moves you. Or, if you want to keep it really close to home, find out if your kids' teachers have Amazon wish lists and gift them supplies.
Droste highlighted teachers only using their first names, and the first featured teacher was Erica, who teaches reading to fourth-graders in Chicago. As you might imagine, Erica's wish list is chock-full of terrific kids' books like the ever-popular Captain Underpants series.
Next up was Bre, who teaches a special-ed class to middle-school kids in Detroit and whose wish list includes stuff like headsets for kids who learn best by listening.
Daniel teaches English as a second language to middle and high school students in Los Angeles. His wish list includes books about kids navigating identities that straddle racial and cultural boundaries.
Since Anna teaches math and science to fifth-graders in Sacramento, her wish list includes lots and lots of dry-erase markers for writing out equations.
Lauren's preschool class in Denver needs engaging activities, so her wish list has toys like brightly-colored building blocks.
The Chicago kids Crystal teaches face a lot of challenges in their underprivileged neighborhood. Her wish list includes tools like Chromebooks to help them thrive.
Los Angeles history teacher Chris includes educational, history-themed games on his wish list.
Monica in Pomona, Calif., teaches first grade, so her wish list includes fun books from authors like Dr. Seuss to foster a love of reading.
Rei's special-ed class in New York City needs nontraditional learning tools, like these ingenious "fidget bands" from his wish list.
Droste pal Christine (the teacher who initially inspired his project) teaches third grade in a low-income area of Los Angeles. Her wish list is filled with basics like pencils.
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