We are making a difference in our community by donating school supplies with Champion’s for Kids and Elmer’s this month!

It’s been a few months since I have taken part in one of the Champions for Kids SIMPLE Service projects and I could not think of a better cause for me to jump back in on than the Bag It Forward project sponsored by Elmer’s. Their goal is to provide students with quality school supplies!

All of the details for this month’s project can be found on this flier.

Did you know:

• Teachers spend an average of $356 out of their own pockets for basic classroom necessities.
• More than 31 MILLION students receive free or reduced lunch. If 31 million of our children can’t afford lunch, how do you think they can afford the ever-growing list of school supplies each year on top of that?
• It has been proven that having quality school supplies builds a child’s confidence and self-esteem which is a firm foundation for a great education.
• The average earning of an individual with an advanced degree is upwards of $83k.

If you and I can pick up a few extra supplies LOOK WHAT WE CAN DO to help our future!!! All you have to do is pick up extra items while you’re doing your shopping and then make sure that you share your story with CFK on this easy form so that they can capture the true impact of donations.

Jonesie, J and I headed out to Walmart with our own school supply lists. With a goal to DOUBLE Jonesie’s list and donate the doubled part. I plan to donate it to a new teacher at Jonesie’s elementary school. A first year teacher. All teacher’s have it rough, but a first year teacher doesn’t have the benefit of previous year’s left overs so I know that these extra supplies will be a big help!

If you don’t have access to print out your child’s supply list most Walmart’s have an Elmer’s School Supply List display with copies of local school’s supply lists. At my store they had these displays in two areas at the front of the store and by the school supply area. Check out Jonesie looking for his…

I was also very happy to see a Champions for Kids donation box at each store entrance. Right up front. You can’t walk in the store without passing it. If you can grab a few extra supplies to drop in the box it will definitely be most appreciated! They look like this…

Armed with our list we set out. First stop Elmer’s school glue at $.50 each!!! You can never have enough glue. Not at home. Not at school… And if you have a spare $1 pick up two and drop them in that donation box. Remember that stat on building kids self-esteem with quality school supplies?

We bought two of everything on the list for Jonesie’s fourth grade list. Glue, paper, scissors, folders, paper, composition books, pens, pencils, colored pencils, crayons……….

Look at my awesome helpers checking off each item as we picked it up! Love those boys, I just want to squeeze them for being such a big help!!

But if I’m going to be honest, this is mostly what I get… A “look” from the 9 year old and another “look” from the 16 yo. LOL I can’t even imagine what it was I said this time.

If you don’t have any school supply shopping to do Champions for Kids has put together a grab bag that you can just pick up. It is full of great, quality, supplies, doubles as a backpack and has over $35 of coupons inside!!!! You should be able to find these bags near the school supplies or office supplies.

You can see our whole shopping trip in my #BagItForward Google+ album.

Keep up with all of the Champions for Kids and Elmer’s going-on’s by following them on their social media accounts:

• Champions for Kids: http://championsforkids.org
• Champions for Kids Twitter Handle: https://twitter.com/#!/champions4kids
• Champions for Kids Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ChampionsForKids
• Elmer’s Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Elmers
• Elmer’s Twitter handle: @Elmers http://twitter.com/#!/elmers

Disclosure: I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community.  This content has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™. All opinions and beautiful children with big hearts belong to me. #BagItForward #Champions4Kids #CBias #SocialFabric