BELTON, Texas — Melesia Hudson has been a teacher going on nine years.
"I've always liked the feeling of feeling like I contribute to other people's lives and I make a difference," she told 25 News.
While she does love her job, she said it can get a little tight at the start of each school year. Hudson said last year she spent hundreds of dollars on classroom supplies.
"It was just the beginning of the year, my back-to-school shopping to get set up, to get situated in my classroom for the students," Hudson said.
"When I kept my receipts, it was about $500 and it just progressed over the reminder of the year."
This year Hudson is partnering with fellow teacher Stephanie Martinez, who knows the burden all too well.
"We want it to be great for kids, but we need to shell out the money for that," Martinez said.
Last year Martinez and her sister-in-law Nikole Estrada started a fundraiser to help teachers.
"She was talking about how we do so much every year for kids like backpack drives, back to school drives and she said, 'I want to do something for teachers'," Martinez remembered.
"So I told her 'you can ask for their amazon wish list'. She posted about it and it kind of became this thing."
They were able to collect donations and help 20 teachers clear their shopping lists. This year, they're taking it a step further.
"Teachers started posting their lists and they started buying for other teachers," Hudson said. "It was great, but then we thought how can we make it for it's not teachers who are continuously buying out of pocket for their own supplies or other teachers. How can we get the community involved?"
In addition to posting teacher wish lists, the women are now also planning a back-to-school block party on August 5.
"We rented out all of Yettie Polk park and we're going to have a dj, bounce houses, different activities just gearing up to back to school," Martinez said.
"All of the funds that we raise will go to the local teachers that have registered for our list this year."
The goal is to raise enough money to give 100 teachers a $100 gift card for school supplies.
