Madison, WI – The Foundation for Madison’s Public Schools continues its community-wide effort to raise $250,000 to buy school supplies for students in the Madison Metropolitan School District. The Foundation and coordinating partners will host volunteer days to stuff school supply bags at the Alliant Energy Center on September 10 and 11.
The urgent fundraising campaign will help students who need their own sets of supplies at home in order to engage in virtual learning. The Foundation has had early success in collecting donations at fmps.org/supplies, including significant commitments from Karen and Craig Christianson and Promega Corporation. The Foundation will need to quadruple these generous contributions to meet its fundraising goal.
To help families get access to 5000 supply kits, the Foundation is partnering with the Madison Metropolitan School District, United Way of Dane County, the City of Madison, Madison Public Libraries, the Madison Needs Network, and retired teachers to coordinate logistics and volunteers. EZ Office Products, American Family Insurance, and the Alliant Energy Center are providing bulk buying power, shipping, and space for supplies. Summit Credit Union and Costco have also donated supplies.
On September 10, volunteers are needed to help coordinate supplies and set up an assembly line for stuffing bags. On September 11, volunteers are needed to stuff and prepare bags for delivery to local schools. Volunteers will wear masks, bring their own snacks, and follow protocols for physical distancing while volunteering at Alliant Energy Center.
“While some families have supplies at home, we know some families are struggling to get ready for virtual school this fall,” said the Foundation’s Executive Director Melinda Heinritz, “We’re working to fill the gap and we couldn’t do it without our community partners.”
By coordinating larger purchases of supplies at a lower cost, the average cost of a supply kit for an elementary student is $50. An initial round of 2,500 kits will be purchased and assembled and another 2,500 will be secured with additional funds from the community. In-kind donations of supplies will also be received at local community centers.
The supply initiative is based on the 2019 Foundation’s Teachers PETS (Progress-Equity-Tools-Supplies) pilot program to raise funds for classroom supplies so teachers wouldn’t have to shoulder costs. Last year it supported 100 teachers in Midvale and Lincoln Elementary and Cherokee Heights Middle Schools.
Learn more about how to support the supply fund drive at fmps.org/supplies. Sign up to volunteer at VolunteerYourTime.org.
