I can’t emphasize enough how important schools are to both our community and our future. One Richmond City school teacher found out about a great online program, DonorsChoose.org that was able to help her make a even bigger difference in her students’ lives. Cheryl Thompson, a teacher at Blackwell Elementary, submitted a short essay to DonorsChoose explaining that she had an idea to use a digital voice recorder to record some of the classrooms activities and send them home with the kids. It was a way to involve parents, but also a way to reach out to the non-verbal children who couldn’t communicate with their parents about what was going on in the classroom.
Donorschoose matches up everyday folks like you and me with folks like teachers who have a need but not necessarily the resources to fulfill it. It makes philanthropy easy for a regular Joe, and there is a personal element to it because the donor gets to pick the recipient and the project that he wants to support.

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine plans to announce this morning at Blackwell that Virginia teachers are now eligible to post their projects on the site.

“You just put your hopes and dreams out there, your visions, and somebody out there believes in you,” said Thompson, who is in her fourth year teaching early childhood special education in the city schools. “I love that idea. You don’t have to write a big, long grant.”

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