First Boulder Valley Collaborative School Supply Drive to Launch in July

For most low-income families in Boulder Valley, the cost of purchasing basic school supplies every fall stretches their finances to the limit. In fact, many of the 4,000 low-income students in the Boulder Valley School District (BVSD) routinely begin school without adequate supplies. Considering the unfortunate constraints of funding for public education, schools with a large population of high-needs students are not able to step in and help these families.

To ensure that every student in BVSD begins school this fall ready to learn, Extras for Education, the “I Have a Dream”® Foundation of Boulder County and Impact on Education, (formerly the Foundation for Boulder Valley Schools), recently united their efforts to provide students with school supplies. This July, these three area non-profits are launching the first annual Boulder Valley collaborative school supply drive, Crayons to Calculators, for kids in need.

Title sponsor Corporate Express is jumpstarting the drive with a $15,000 donation of school supplies and will provide additional supplies at wholesale cost. The collaboration hopes to raise the majority of its support through a virtual school supply drive at www.crayonstocalculators.org. This Web site, which will be accessible in July, allows community members the most cost-effective opportunity to support the drive because their online donations will be used to purchase supplies through Corporate Express at the discounted rate.

“Our chief goal in collaborating was to create visibility for the problem rather than force the community to select between different school supply efforts by worthy non-profits,” said Francie Anhut, CEO of Impact on Education. “And, with Corporate Express’ support, we have created another compelling benefit.”

Lori Canova, CEO of the “I Have a Dream”® Foundation, is thrilled with the collaboration. “While we have undertaken a school supply drive for years, we were excited by the opportunity to combine our efforts with other nonprofits,” she said.
“Through the virtual store and Corporate Express, we are maximizing community members’ donations.”

Executive Director at Extras for Education, Catherine Bedell, said the partnership among the three organizations will better serve the local community. “Collectively, the capabilities of the three non-profit partners nicely complement each other and will create more support for the students we all serve.”

If individuals prefer to make in-kind donations to Crayons to Calculators, they can drop off school supplies they already have purchased at a number of area financial institutions, including Chase, First National Bank, U of C Federal Credit Union, U.S. Bank and Vectra Bank.

In addition to support from Corporate Express and area financial institutions, Leopard Communications is donating the creative work, Tarafain Computer Services is donating the Web design, Bivio, Inc. will host the Crayons to Calculators Web site and the Daily Camera is donating advertising support.

“We anticipate that Crayons to Calculators will soon become a staple among the Boulder Valley annual giving campaigns, and we look forward to the day when all area students have the supplies they need regardless of their family financial circumstances,” Anhut said.

Extras for Education has provided over one million dollars in educational resources to over 250 schools and non-profit organizations since 1998. Extras for Education collects surplus supplies from area homes and businesses and provides them to all schools in the Boulder Valley and St. Vrain School Districts. For more information, call Catherine Bedell at 303-823-9460.

The "I Have a Dream" Foundation of Boulder County (IHAD) is a long-term dropout prevention program for low-income children. Since 1990, IHAD has helped 400 children achieve their education and career goals by providing long-term personal and academic support, tutoring, mentoring and four-year tuition-assistance scholarships to each graduating student. The organization adopts entire groups of students from elementary schools, or from low-income public housing sites and works with these children and their families through high school. Currently, there are six IHAD learning centers in Boulder, Longmont and Lafayette. The program has doubled expected graduation rates and awards over $90,000 in scholarships each year. To learn more, call Lori Canova at 303-444-3636 x 16.

Founded in 1983, Impact on Education is a private, non-profit community partnership for Boulder Valley Public Schools. The organization solicits crucially needed resources from businesses, individuals and foundations for classroom projects, in support of technology, to prevent dropout and to help level the playing field for disadvantaged students. In 22 years, Impact on Education has raised and invested $2.65 million, benefiting over 285,000 students and 2,200 teachers. To learn more, visit www.impactoneducation.org or call Francie Anhut at 303-447-5132.