TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA ) – The first day of school is only a few weeks away for students and teachers in Hillsborough County.
The Hillsborough Education Foundation opened up its Teaching Tools Resource Center on Monday for teachers from Title I schools. There, they can “shop” for school supplies for free to stock up their classrooms.
“I know teachers spend on average between $500 and $1500 and they probably hide the true number from their spouses about how much they spend for our students,” Hillsborough Education Foundation CEO Kim Jewel said.
The top 20 most-needed school supplies include backpacks, cap erasers, colored pencils (12 count), composition books, copy paper, crayons (24 count), dry-erase markers, filler paper, glue sticks, glue bottles, highlighters, index cards, large pink erasers, pencils, pens, pocket folders, rulers, scissors, spiral notebooks and washable markers.
“You can’t be learning if you don’t have a pencil and paper. You can’t take notes, you can’t be engaged. I remember as a kid, growing up, going shopping for my supplies, but could you imagine a student walking into school the first day without the supplies,” Jewel said.
WFLA News Channel 8 is teaming up with Hillsborough Education Foundation, the Pinellas Education Foundation, the Tampa Bay Rays and Tampa Bay area Achieva Credit Unions to lend a hand.
The Annual Back to School Supply Drive will be held on Aug. 12 from 6 a.m.-1 p.m. at the News Channel 8 parking lot outside the studios in Tampa and at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg.
You can donate to both the Hillsborough Education Foundation and the Pinellas Education Foundation online.
