Fundraiser launched to raise money to buy classroom supplies for Wake teachers

The WakeEd Partnership is looking for financial donations to help stock a new warehouse that will provide free classroom and school supplies to teachers in the Wake County school system.

The Wake County school system is leasing space near the Crossroads Shopping Center in Cary to the WakeEd Partnership to open a “teacher store” in early 2022. WakeEd has launched a Tools4Schools drive to raise money to purchase items to stock the shelves of the new warehouse.

The 4 Others Foundation will match up to $50,000 raised for the drive by Dec. 31.

“As a community, it is our responsibility to ensure that all of our students receive the best education possible each day — and have the supplies they need to focus on learning,” WakeEd said in an email Thursday.

“Today, we’re asking for your support as we stock the shelves at Tools4Schools with classroom supplies for nearly 11,000 educators and 160,000 students in 2022.”

WakeEd is a business-backed advocacy group that supports public education.

Teachers spend their own money now on supplies

WakeEd says teachers shouldn’t have to pay for their own supplies. The group cites how teachers in North Carolina spend an average of $526 out-of-pocket on school supplies for their students each year.

The new program is modeled after similar efforts in Mecklenburg and Guilford counties.

The new Wake store will open at the former Crossroads Ford of Cary service center site at 1660 Piney Plains Road in Cary. The school system purchased the property to turn it into a multi-million dollar school transportation center where school buses will be serviced.

Construction work on the transportation center isn’t slated to begin until 2023, so the district is leasing part of the site to WakeEd until then.

Go to wakeed.org/tools4schools for more information, including a link to donate money.