ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – Volunteers from several sponsors showed up again on Friday to continue packing thousands of bookpacks for students in need.
A Gift for Teaching’s “The Great Big Backpack Build” event started with music and energy for day two.
“This is awesome because I’m one of the teachers that takes advantage of A Gift for Teaching for my students,” Alecia Bryant said.
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Bryant is a teacher at Meadow Woods Middle School in Orange County and has been volunteering with A Gift for Teaching for years.
“Taking time after work, coming to A Gift for Teaching, shopping and having that stuff available for my students, it is the least I can do. We pull out of our pockets, we do it because we have a heart for students and a heart for education,” Bryant explained.
Bryant teaches 7th grade civics and said she’s had students who have shown up with no school supplies on their first day of class.
“It’s amazing how we live in Orange County, we have Disney and all of this here, but there’s a lot of students that don’t have so it’s amazing that companies give so we can help our kids,” she said.
Board members with A Gift for Teaching said more than 70% of public schools in Central Florida are considered high need.
All 15,000 bookbags will be delivered to students in over 150 schools in Orange and Osceola counties in August.
Donations are being accepted online at agiftforteaching.org/supplydrive.