#BagitForward with Elmer’s – Donate to Your Teachers!

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I had the AWESOME opportunity to once again participate in Elmer’s Bag it Forward program! What is Bag it Forward? Bag it Forward is a campaign that puts school supplies in the hands of needy children and charities every year! You can participate too! Simply purchase school items for students this year, donate them to a needy family, school, or charity, and then upload your photos on the Bagged Forward site! (no blog post needed!)

 

Not only is Elmer’s promoting the Bag it Forward program, but they are also donating items to the Kids in Need Foundation. From July 25 through Sept. 1,2011- for each “like” on the Elmer’s Facebook page, the company will donate a product to the Foundation’s national network of free stores, where teachers from disadvantaged schools can “shop” for free for school supplies.
Products to be donated include a variety of glues, foam board, project supplies and pencil sharpeners. If you already like the page, they will make a contribution on your behalf, but you can donate again by watching a video on the Elmer’s Kids In Need Facebook tab and sharing it with your friends and family.

 

 

 A few weeks ago I purchased several bookbags full of school supplies and donated them at one of our local schools. (You can read that post here.) Today’s mission- Buy school supplies for a teacher, and anonymously drop them off at his/her doorstep!! Ooooh I love doing things like this! Although I would of course love to see their reaction, I know that it’s an even bigger blessing sometimes when the recipient has no idea who left them their surprise!
My husband and I sat down and talked about who we wanted to choose to receive the goodies in this mission. He teaches at an elementary school so it was really difficult to pick just one teacher. Finally we decided on “Mrs. Y”. Mrs. Y is a kindergarten teacher who has been at the school for over 30 years and is the “glue” that holds their school together.
She is a pastor’s wife, and is the K-5 Grade Chair as well as a PTA member. I can’t tell you how many times we have driven past the school on the weekends or at night and seen her car there. She is so giving and is always generous to other teachers and students in need. I knew she was the perfect person to choose. Not only would this be a blessing to her but I knew that if she didn’t need something- she would find the right person who did.
Since this mission was anonymous (good thing she doesn’t read my blog!!) I couldn’t actually ask her what she needed for her classroom this year. But I do know that none of her students are required to supply anything. The district puts out a list of supplies for each grade, so that is where I started.
Our Walmart has all of the school lists right in the front so it was easy to find. I knew, however, that her personal preference was slightly different than the supply list- so I made sure to buy the extra fat crayons instead of the little 8 packs, and I bought the big fat Ticonderoga pencils too! Perfect for K-5 students.
Since my husband is a school teacher I knew that storage baggies and tissues were a HUGE item that most teachers do not receive enough of. Simply put, they are more expensive than a $.20 pack of glue or pencils! So I definitely wanted to make sure I sent along enough of these to help her out! I was happy to see that the Ziploc bags had double Box Tops on them right now!
 Although I was buying oodles of school supplies for Mrs. Y’s classroom- I really wanted to buy something just for her. I wanted to make it a little more personal but I wasn’t sure what to get. So I grabbed her a 12 pack of Coke. I know many teachers stash drinks in their classrooms!
Quite some time later I finally loaded everything onto the checkout belt. Wow! I could barely fit it all on one belt- I HAD to get a picture!!

 

I quickly hurried home to get my husband and kids so we could bring everything over to Mrs. Y’s house- it was a SECRET mission!! Do you think we bought enough Elmer’s Disappearing Purple Glue Sticks? 🙂 Hopefully it will last at least half the year!! We also bought Elmer’s Construction paper, and even a few bottles of Elmer’s School Glue too!
What an AWESOME project this turned out to be!! Look at this AMAZING amount of stuff we were able to pick up for Mrs. Y!!!! I am SO excited and I’m not even keeping it! This was a great way to help a teacher out, and to teach my son about helping others. We bought 49 items for $86! You can see everything we purchased below!

 

SO here comes the fun part!! It’s time to bag everything up and head over to Mrs. Y’s house! We picked a time when we knew she would be at church!! I printed a special “You’ve Been Bagged” letter which explains the Bag it Forward program with Elmer’s and quickly dropped everything off at her house! I had so many bags that I couldn’t actually carry them all in one trip! It’s a good thing she wasn’t home or she would have surely caught me snooping around her front porch!!
Our family had a BLAST participating in the Bag it Forward program. I am SO thankful that I was allowed the opportunity to participate! But YOU can participate too! Just head to the store, grab some school supplies- even if it’s only a few items- and donate them to a teacher or student who needs them! It’s a great way of paying it forward. A huge amount of our teachers pay for hundreds of dollars of supplies every year out of their own pockets, and it can be financially difficult for them to not only provide for their own families but also to provide for 20+ students in their classrooms as well.

 

With our participation in the Bag it Forward campaign we were able to explain to our children a little bit about helping other people out. They were able to help pack up the bags which we donated to Mrs. Y. which was really neat for them since they know her. (Hopefully they won’t spoil our secret!!)
We told our children how helping one teacher out could help countless other children who do not have the ability to purchase their own supplies. Buying supplies for a teacher could help them stretch their budget just a little bit further. Teachers pour their lives into their students and their schools, and by donating a few school supplies this is just one small way we can help them out.

– Also let your readers know that they Elmer’s is a Upromise partner and that every time you purchase an Elmer’s or Krazy Glue product with your registered drug or grocery card, a percentage of your purchase will be put into your Upromise account.
Disclosure: This project has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Elmer’s #BagitForward #collectivebias campaign. All opinions are my own.

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19 Comments

  1. Mrs. Richardson says:

    What a beautiful thing to do. I know she definitely felt blessed when she returned home and saw that bounty. Nice 🙂

  2. Dawn @Just Married with Coupons says:

    Oh my goodness, that is INCREDIBLE! I love it, she is going to be sooo happy!

  3. That is soooo awesome! What a blessing!

  4. Wow! How awesome is this? But now I want to see her reaction! Do you think your husband will hear anything around school? 🙂

  5. What a great idea! Az a teacher I appreciate allthe help I get from parents and the community.

  6. Felicity Steers says:

    That is seriously cool of you. I can't even imagine how wonderful that would feel to walk in and have such a surprise waiting for me! So sweet and such a blessing.

  7. I absolutely love this! I wish I could see her face!! And how neat that your kids got to take part in making someone's day!

  8. Anonymous says:

    Could you do another post that shares the "You've been bagged" letter? My daughter will be in 1st grade this year at the school where I teach kindergarten. I would love to do this for her. I am going anonymous in case she follows this blog. 🙂

  9. The Teachers Wife says:

    I wish I DID get to see her face!! I can't wait till school starts to see if my husband hears any rumors floating around about this!! Just thinking about doing this for Mrs. Y has made me smile all day! If you would like the "You've been Bagged" letter just email me and I'll send you the PDF file!!

  10. WOW!!! That is going to be one happy teacher. You must be inside her head b/c seriously everything you got there is something I have needed and had to beg, borrow, steal, or go out and buy in a pinch.

  11. bigguysmama says:

    Ok, that is stinkin' awesome!! Love that last photo of you with the thumbs up! LOL I need to go back to school shopping. Have lots of Elmer's glue already. It's a staple in our house!

    ~Mimi

  12. Amy @ Dealusional says:

    I just love that you left it at her door – how surprised is she going to be?! So very cool!

  13. Awesome! We've been buying all the penny and nickel and dime items at the office supply stores all summer and Monday I boxed them all up and dropped them off at the local elementary school (semi-anonymously – I gave them to a custodian who doesn't know me so the office won't know who brought them – grin). There were four banker boxes full of stuff! Plus two big tote bags I filled that I'll give my kids' teachers once I know who they are! 🙂

  14. Closer to Lucy says:

    You rock! I kinda hate you just a little bit because of it.. I was not as cleaver with my bag it forward project but it did motivate me to do more… we're doing a b2s party tomorrow and handing out supplies as door prizes, I invited several kids I know that need them.

    But darn you! Why didn't I think of something some freaking cool!?

    I wonder if she talks about it at school???

  15. Oh what a gerat project!! I am sure it was very exciting for Mrs. Y when she got home!!

  16. MAMA BRANDI says:

    This is so awesome!! I am sure the teacher will be super excited to receive these items! Also, thanks for the great ideas…now I know what to get a friend who is a new teacher this year. 🙂

  17. i love this program, it helps out in a great way

  18. What a great idea!! That is awesome~I am sure that Mrs. Y was was so surprised!

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