Teachers' aid: Supply Closet nonprofit offers free school supplies

Teachers piled backpacks, notebooks and pencils into their shopping carts, every now and then pausing to smile or throw their hands up in excitement.

While most use money from their bank accounts to buy supplies for students, that wasn't the case Tuesday at the Teachers' Supply Closet, a nonprofit organization in West Ashley that collects school supplies and allows teachers to "shop" for free.

There's no catch or no gimmick. The only requirement is that teachers who shop must work in schools where 95 percent of the students live in poverty.

"Any time you can get anything free, we'll take it," said Heidi Boes, a third-grade teacher at Chicora Elementary School in North Charleston.

Until this semester, the number of eligible schools has been limited to seven in Charleston County — Chicora, Dunston, Fraser, Hursey, Mary Ford and Sanders-Clyde elementary schools and McClellanville Middle — but the store's leaders have opened their doors to schools throughout the tri-county area that meet the poverty requirement.

No schools in Dorchester County qualified, but three elementary schools in Berkeley County — Cainhoy, St. Stephen and J.K. Gourdin — made the cut.

The nonprofit's long-term goal is to serve all Lowcountry schools with more than 70 percent of students in poverty, but it's taking time to build capacity to do that, said Dorothy Harrison, president of the governing board for the Teachers' Supply Closet. The goal for the fall is to open the store for schools with more than 80 percent or more of students in poverty, she said.

It's a leap, but only a small percentage of the teachers at each eligible school take advantage of the store, and no teacher takes more than he or she needs, she said. More than 100 teachers have shopped for about 1,500 students.

The effort to provide free school supplies to teachers began more than two years ago, and the actual Teachers' Supply Closet store has been open one year. It appears to be the only store of its kind in the state.

Deborah Halon, chief operating officer for the Teachers' Supply Closet, began working with the group in August to build supply inventory and community support. She's focusing on recruiting businesses to provide consistent support to the store through supply drives or donations.

"We're doing a lot of partnerships, and the community is getting behind us," she said. "It could grow so much more."

The RiverDogs adopted the nonprofit for its upcoming season, and the first 100 people who bring school supplies to each home game this year will receive an admission ticket for $1. Pinckney Elementary PTA in Mount Pleasant collects and donates pencils to the store, and others, such as Community First Bank, have hosted supply drives. Others simply show up at the store with supplies.

Teachers shopping on Tuesday called the store a blessing. Boes estimated that she was taking $200 worth of supplies back to her classroom. Store records indicated that some have taken as much as $750 in supplies to students, and that's often money that would come from teachers' bank accounts.

"It's always great to get extras," said Deanna Robertson, a Sanders-Clyde Elementary kindergarten teacher who left the store with a buggy full of goodies.

Previous story

Filling up for fall: Teachers' Supply Closet cuts down on salary costs to get closer to goal of 'steady stream of supplies', published 07/15/08

Reach Diette Courrégé at dcourrege@postandcourier.com or 937-5546.