Stories of Community Support

More Stories of Community Support

LA’s Maiden Voyage – A Lifeboat for Classrooms in Need

To kick-off the opening of BFJ's newest chapter – Los Angeles County – the board decided to focus on helping high-poverty schools in the area. Through Jack and Joanne Tatham of the Orange County chapter, they learned about Donors Choose, an online charity that helps teachers and students get the materials they need for better learning outcomes. The Donors Choose website connects donors with project proposals for classrooms in need. If, after a given amount of time, the funding for a project isn’t completed, the proposal from the teacher expires. They didn’t want to see that happen. So they decided to complete the funding on several important projects that had already received partial funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Creative Artists Agency, and J.P. Morgan San Francisco, so that these public schools would have the leg-up they needed to succeed.

They were overjoyed to complete the funding for the following projects: A class of 9th and 10th graders from a high school in a high-poverty, high-crime area got the 8 graphing calculators they needed for their honors Algebra class. A brand-new teacher got the funding she needed for basic supplies like partitions and lapboards for her class. A class of budding musicians got 14 practice drum pads they needed so they can play music freely without the noise level disturbing the rest of the school. In addition, they completed funding for a reading table, digital camera, microscope and slides, 16 copies of children’s encyclopedias, 75 books for music, dance, acting and the arts, an Elmo document camera, supplies to help teach about the atom, hot-dot pens for test taking, and a study group table. They received kind words like these from grateful teachers: “Your generosity towards a stranger will not go unnoticed” and “I cannot fully put into words the overwhelming emotions of appreciation and joy.”

The board members of Bread for the Journey of Los Angeles said, “It was the happiest $780 we have ever given.” For more information about Donors Choose, visit www.donorschoose.org