CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Classroom Central has been making sure teachers in the Charlotte area get the supplies they need for their students for decades – but for the first time in the non-profit's history, they’re helping teachers teach from home.
They had to get creative to get supplies to the teachers. Schools have been closed for weeks now – but teachers are still teaching, so Classroom Central decided to try a drive-through shopping experience.
As soon as they announced it, more than 200 teachers signed up to be a part of it.
Classroom Central usually is a bustling retail store of sorts. Third-grade teacher Sedana Williams has been “shopping” there for eight years.
“I typically shop for students or classroom needs," Williams said.
The non-profit is a free shop where teachers can get all the supplies they need.
Now, the classroom is a teachers home, and the supply needs have changed.
“Yes you have to get creative in these times,” Williams says.
Apparently, very creative.
“Teachers are getting really creative when they’re doing their Zoom classes with students and using things like shower walls for dry erase boards," Classroom Central’s executive director Karen Calder said.
Calder and her team realized this new normal meant new needs.
“No different from any other day at Classroom Central," Calder said. "The only difference is we're making sure they’re equipped to work successfully from home.”
So Tuesday, they hosted the first-ever drive-through shop.
“I think the thing I’ve been most impressed about and silver lining is all the innovation and creativity coming out from [it] but from teachers and really everyone," Calder said. "I think that’s inspiring and hopeful.”
Williams is grateful – her home printer was out of ink and she’d just run out of paper.
“Everything is kind of out of stock or shipping delay so having those reams of paper free for me is the best," Williams said.
It was so successful today they’re hoping to do another one again soon. If you want to help –there are some new ways the community can pitch in. You can find more info at classroomcentral.org.
“It's just as important now as ever," Calder said. "School is not out — the buildings might be closed but the learning continues.”
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