Local teachers get help providing brand-new school supplies to low-income students

FIFE, WA -- It's a room filled with school supplies- everything you can think of, from pens and pencils, to books and notebooks. Everything is brand new; more importantly, everything is FREE.

This is World Vision's Teacher Resource Center, a shopping area connected to a giant warehouse filled with even more products. This center in Fife is one of six around the country, open for teachers in schools with 70% free or reduced lunch (or higher). It serves 160 schools from Snohomish County through Pierce County.

Donations from corporations like Boeing, Bartell Drugs, and other donors mean teachers like Emily Gunn and Nicole Isernio, who both teach kindergarten at Bow Lake Elementary in SeaTac, can shop twice a year and gather brand new supplies to have on hand for all of their students.

"A lot of our kids- their families aren't able to purchase those, so it comes back to us as the teacher to make sure those supplies are ready," Nicole says. "We just really want to make sure that they have those supplies to start off their school  year, and their school career as kindergartners, on the best food possible."

Reed Slattery is World Vision's site manager for the pacific northwest, and points out why this center is so crucial. "A lot of these teachers actually spend... hundreds if not thousands of dollars out of their own pocket every year," he says.

In addition to the regular school supplies we all might think of, the center also has items like shoes and meal kits, to be sent home with needy families on the weekends.

With everything the Teacher Resource Center is providing for these classrooms, it all goes a long way into making sure all students feel prepared and confident as they start the school year.

To learn more about the program, click HERE.