When first-grade teacher Susan Heath first walked into the downtown Durham warehouse and looked over the stacks of paper, spiral-bound notebooks and boxes of crayons and pencils, she assumed the supplies were discounted.
Then she learned everything was free.
"It felt just like Christmas," she said. But Santa had nothing to do with the shelves of free school supplies.
Crayons2Calculators, a non-profit organization operated by eight undergraduate students from Duke and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, arranged the giveaway.
On Aug. 23, Crayons2Calculators, also known as C2C, will host another daylong giveaway of school supplies at the Durham Teacher Warehouse (109 East Chapel Hill St., Durham). Schoolteachers from six of Durham's 28 elementary schools have been invited to the warehouse to "shop" for school supplies.
Many teachers do not have enough supplies to last throughout the year, says Ashley Arlow, a recent Duke graduate and president of C2C. Arlow's goal is to help teachers by negotiating with area businesses for free supplies.
"(The) Durham Public Schools system has many demands on its budget," says Arlow. "Far too often, teachers have to make up the difference by paying out-of-pocket for supplies for their classrooms."
Nearly 50 percent of students in Durham Public Schools qualify for free and reduced lunch and may come from households that cannot provide adequate school supplies.
It's a situation that challenges not only the teachers but also their students, especially those from low-income homes, according to Becca Hill, a second-grade teacher at Durham's Forest View Elementary School.
"It is demoralizing to the kids when they lack the supplies they need to succeed," she says. "They can end up feeling unappreciated and frustrated. The benefit of C2C is that it gives the kids a sense of ownership, and ownership is empowering."
Teachers, such as Hill, have paid up to $1,000 from their own pockets to supplement their curriculum with materials throughout the year.
"As teachers, we so often learn to do without that we forget the kids are suffering," Heath says. "All the supplies I have received from C2C go directly to them and they benefit instantly. For example, you have no idea how smooth the transition between assignments is just by having two staplers in the classroom."
The organization's founding members got the idea for C2C while in a public policy course run by Tony Brown, who heads the Robertson Scholars Program that brings together students from Duke and UNC-Chapel Hill. Brown's class learned that students often lack the resources they need to focus on learning, and that public school teachers often have inadequate supplies.
The founders crafted a business plan to address the situation. They launched C2C in April 2006, after arranging non-profit status. According to its website, C2C has given away about $25,000 worth of supplies since its inception.
"Durham and Duke are inextricably linked," says Steve Schewel, a former Durham school board member and visiting public policy professor at Duke, who helped start C2C and now serves as an adviser. "The key to the success of Durham as a community is the success of the public schools. The future of Durham and its schools will rise and fall together."
To help as many students as possible, C2C has partnered with several corporate and community organizations. These include Duke University Stores, the NFL's Charlotte-based Carolina Panthers, Target, Wal-Mart and Maverick Capital, a New York investment firm where Duke alumnus and C2C co-founder Ben Silver works. Other partners include Triangle Residential Options for Substance Abusers, the City
of Durham, the Mary Duke Biddle Foundation, Youth Venture and the Durham Regional Association of Realtors.
To donate new or gently used supplies, people should contact the C2C office by email. The most-needed items include electric or manual pencil sharpeners, white board markers and erasers, glue sticks, wet wipes, two-prong pocket folders and storage containers.
"C2C makes an instant impact, they're committed to the schools and the community, and they know it's a long-term investment," says Lynne Dubay, a member of C2C's board of directors. "They are one of the greatest gifts to Durham public schools."
Free School Supplies: 10-4 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 23 Durham Teacher Warehouse, 109 E. Chapel Hill Street, Durham Information: crayons2calculators.org; durhamteam@crayons2calculators.org