BRYAN, Texas (KRHD — With the school year about to start, teachers are having to buy supplies out of their own pocket. 'Teacher Closet' provides educators with an opportunity to get the supplies they need for free.
- Open Shopping will be this Saturday, Aug 3rd, 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at Morningstar Storage.
- Additional information about 'Teacher Closet' available on the website and Facebook page.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
"We created a system and a bridge where the community can donate needed items to teachers, and teachers can come get everything that they want," CEO and founder of All Heart Inc, Fabi Payton said.
With limited school budgets, many educators in Central Texas and across the country are spending their own money on to buy essential supplies for their classrooms.
"We're here to help public school teachers in this situation because we know that state funding has been diminished, and we want to offset that," Payton said
'Teacher Closet' provides free supplies for classrooms so educators aren't left paying out of pocket.
"Teachers have to pay for their own supplies, and state funding keeps declining and keeps cutting their resources and their budgets," Payton said.
Fabi Payton is a teacher and founder of All Heart Incorporated, a nonprofit organization dedicated to uniting the community that helped create 'Teacher Closet'.
But she told 15ABC, Monica Martinez was the neighbor behind the idea.
"I know this community, I knew its love, I knew its heart, I knew its desire to want to do this, that's what inspired me to bully Monica to do this and like this," she said.
This Saturday, 'Teacher Closet' is having an open shopping day, giving teachers an opportunity to restock classrooms and get supplies for the upcoming year.
"I need you to bring all your teacher friends Saturday and shop teacher closet," Payton said.
This is the last time 'Teacher Closet' will be at Morningstar Storage, because Payton told 15ABC they're moving into a space in Bryan ISD.
"They're hosting us so that we can continue the system with no cost aside insurance and things like that so that more of the funds can go directly to teachers," she said.
"I knew that we would need to think bigger from the beginning, and I'm happy that everybody else gets to see it too now."