GEF Cares on the Go: A Successful First Year of Providing School Supplies!

After a summer filled with generosity, community support, and overflowing donation bins, the Greenwood Education Foundation proudly wrapped up our first-ever school supply distribution event this March — and what a success it was!

GHS teachers shop for school supplies!

Thanks to the kindness of our community, we collected thousands of much-needed items and brought the GEF Cares Bus directly to each Greenwood school, where teachers were invited to hop on and “shop” for free supplies on behalf of their students. This effort not only made sure students had the tools they needed to finish the school year strong, but it also helped reduce the financial burden on teachers who so often reach into their own pockets to keep their classrooms running smoothly.

Westwood Elementary teachers search for supplies needed by their students.

As a first-time event, we learned a lot along the way — like how little it takes to make a teacher squeal with excitement at the sight of fresh supplies, and just how in-demand certain items are. Headphones, tissues, and binders topped the list of high-need, hard-to-find donations. With so much standardized testing being done on student computers, we now understand how crucial it is to provide high-quality headphones in all grades to help students during this critical time.

Mrs. Kaelin, at Greenwood Middle School, restocks her classroom!

A huge shoutout goes to Modern Woodmen of America for their generous donation of headphones — they couldn’t have arrived at a better time, just ahead of testing season! In total, we distributed 6,884 individual supplies, valued at an estimated $5,193. Among the highlights were:

• 165 packs of colored pencils

• 208 dry erase markers

• 1,128 mechanical pencils

• 705 erasers

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None of this would have been possible without the support of our amazing community partners. Thank you to Greenwood United Methodist Church, Nomad Barbershop, the Greenwood Community Center, and many more for helping us place donation bins throughout the city. And a special thanks to our dedicated volunteers from Community Health Network who braved the winter cold to help us organize and load racks onto the GEF Bus.

Southwest teacher, Mrs. Lawson, sends a huge "Thank You" to all our donors who made this possible.

We’re proud of this new chapter in our GEF Cares programming, and we’re already gearing up to do it again! Keep an eye out this summer for donation bins across the community as we rally support during back-to-school season — because when we come together, we make sure every student has what they need to thrive.

Be on the lookout for donation bins throughout the community this summer!