Sponsor a Teacher
In the fall of 2007, a friend of Portland Store Fixtures started as a teacher at a Portland area school in a lower income community. This school’s teachers are passionate and eager, and the parents offer as much support as they can while providing for their families. But more often than not, the financial support from the PTA isn’t enough to supply a classroom full of students with enough materials to give them the best education possible.
Portland Store Fixtures made the decision to support the school of our friend directly by sending four 5th grade classes downtown for a day to meet Mayor Potter and tour City Hall. Children being children, they were most excited about crossing the Willamette on the bridge! We purchased measuring tapes for the measurement unit, and we sponsored the children when they participated in the Run for the Arts. These few activities cost our company relatively little but made a huge impact on the children and provided support to a local teacher. Portland Store Fixtures has been supported by our community, and we believe our business has the right, privilege, and responsibility to give back. By sponsoring a teacher directly, we know that the assistance we provide is going toward specific projects and classroom use. Once we realized how easy it was for us to support a classroom and make a difference in our community, we wanted to encourage other small, local businesses to get involved with the teachers in their community.
So here’s the bottom line, if you hadn’t seen it coming: we are encouraging other small businesses to find a teacher to sponsor. Every year you impact a whole new bunch of kids. And it doesn’t take that much. You can give them a check for the year, support specific projects and field trips or ask the teachers what their classroom needs. It couldn’t be any easier.
For help finding a teacher to support or with other questions, please email us. We’ll be happy to help you!