While he and his wife were sitting in their son's second grade classroom on Parents' Night, Kevin LeStourgeon heard his child's teacher gratefully thank another parent for providing an electric pencil sharpener for the class. Kevin's first thought was "Why didn't the teacher just walk down to the supply closet and get one for herself? 
 
That's when he discovered this surprising information about classroom supplies; there was no supply closet! 
 
Due to stretched budgets, schools provide for only a fraction of the classroom supplies that most teachers need. The average teacher spends more than $800 a year of their own, hard-earned money for the items that they need to effectively teach in their classroom. These supplies include basic essentials, such as pencils, paper, activity books, bandages, and facial tissue - even food for hungry students. Teachers truly have a giving spirit. 
 
Unless teachers took the uncomfortable step of directly asking parents to contribute classroom items, parents had no effective way of knowing just what a teacher needed.  
 
School fundraisers often result in family, friends and co-workers feeling pressured into buying items they don't need or want. Fundraising companies end up with the majority of the money raised, and only a fraction ultimately reaches teachers.  
 
Outraged at the situation, Kevin was determined to help. Kevin founded Support Your Teacher, a Texas Corporation, and his mantra became: "Classroom supplies shouldn't come from teachers' paychecks." Everyone to whom Kevin spoke about this was eager to help. But how? 
 
After an extended time of investing his own savings in the development effort and with help from local development firms, Kevin launched SupportYourTeacher.org in 2007, an easy-to-use website that allows parents to provide the specific classroom supplies requested by their child's teacher. Unlike typical fundraising efforts, 100% of the donated money goes directly to buying and delivering classroom supplies to teachers. And - best of all - everything purchased through SupportYourTeacher.org goes directly to a teacher!

	Classroom supplies shouldn’t come from teachers’. But sometimes they do.
	Donors want to help, but don’t know how.
	Your donation provides the classroom supplies your child’s teacher needs.

Helping your child's teacher is now as easy as 1-2-3:

1. Teachers create their own list of the classroom supplies they need. - Through a free online registry at SupportYourTeacher.org, teachers can select from an extensive catalog of education-related items. Why a registry? Just like in a bridal registry a bride doesn't want 6 toasters, our teacher's registry works the same way.
    
2. Donors select from the list of items that the teacher has requested. - It's simple to view the teacher's online registry, purchase an on-line gift certificate or select and purchase the items from the list. Each item is individually priced, so parents can choose the level of giving they're comfortable with; or best of all, donate directly to the the teacher so they can purchase exactly what they need at the time that they need it.
    
3. Supplies are shipped directly to the teacher. - Items are removed from the teacher's registry as they're purchased, and are then shipped directly to the teacher at their school. This brings added comfort to those donating to an organization knowing for sure that 100% of what you have given is used directly where you intended it to be used.