Pasco County Schools is set to approve a budget valued at more than $1 billion. Yet, the hundreds of teachers who lead classrooms in the district regularly find themselves without much-needed supplies as simple as notebooks and pencils.
And that’s where United Way of Pasco County steps in.
The charity and service group collected more than 10,000 school supply items recently as part of its annual Stuff the Bus for Teachers campaign. The effort is designed to bring the community together, stocking classrooms and giving a helping hand to the men and women responsible for ensuring the education of our young future leaders.
“Teachers spend between $400 and $1,000 out of their own pocket to supply their classrooms,” said Stefanie Pontlitz, director of development for the local United Way office. “After hearing that, we really wanted to try and assess their needs, because it not only helps the teachers, it helps the students, and it helps learning. And that helps keep the focus on the classroom.”
This year, United Way and Pasco County Schools will reach out to 770 teachers in 80 of its schools to help supply their classrooms with essential items. They’ll use supplies collected from 14 buses parked at Publix and Walmart locations throughout the county during Florida’s annual tax-free holiday.
With school ready to start on Aug. 19, the district is looking for everything they can to help. That includes $1,000 thanks to a small church congregation in Trinity that took a bit of a unique approach.
“If you see someone in need, and it’s within your power to help them, let’s do so,” said Pastor Clayton Bell, who leads Trinity New Life Church at Trinity Elementary School on Duck Slough Boulevard.
For the second year in a row, Bell interrupted his regular Sunday morning sermon at the young church to convince his flock to get in their cars and head straight to the nearby Walmart. There, the church shopped together, leaving with several carts full of supplies.
“Pasco is a very heavy-education county, and we have a lot of teachers and home-school moms in our church,” Bell said. “Teachers have to do so much out of their own pocket, and we wanted to do something that would help them.”
The effort also got support from local Rotary clubs, as well as teachers themselves, volunteering at drop-off points around the county. Moving company Two Men and a Truck will deliver supplies to west Pasco schools, while the United Way will take care of the eastern side of the county.
Among the volunteers was Pasco Schools superintendent Kurt Browning, who not only donated his own box of supplies, but also worked tirelessly to help organize everything as they were brought into the Pine View Middle School gymnasium.
“It’s a great partnership, and the United Way has been a catalyst to really lead the effort,” Browning said. “But my thanks goes out to all the people that contributed their hard-earned dollars to make sure our kids have what they need to start school here.”
This year slightly less than $40,000 in donations came in, topping last year’s total of around $35,000, and the increase was needed since 80 more names were added to the teacher list.
“This is our county’s future,” Pontlitz said. “We want to support the future, and we want to support our teachers.”
