Have your say in the PA Primary!

Posted on April 9th, 2008 by mkrill

If you’re a teacher and you haven’t checked out DonorsChoose, you should! Here’s the story and mission from the site:

What if there were a simple way to provide students with the books, technology, and supplies that they need to learn?

What if people from all walks of life could connect directly with public schools, learn about specific classroom needs, and choose how to help?

The quick meaning of the site is that teachers can submit project requests for supplies/materials and individuals or companies can donate money and choose which teacher project to fund with their donation. A full writeup of purpose, examples of teacher submitted projects, and how the site got started can be found on their About page. A fellow Discovery Educator, Martha Rougeux has received funding from this site. Pennsylvania teachers have projects ranging from classroom books to digital cameras waiting to be funded. And, with the upcoming PA primary possibly deciding the democratic Presidential nominee, Pennsylvania has a greater chance of having projects funded, thanks to Stephen Colbert and the Celebrate the Democralypse! challenge.

Colbert, when interviewed on the Today show described the straw poll he has established at DonorsChoose as a way for voters to have a say in the PA primary, even if they’re not from Pennsylvania. Folks can give donations to Pennsylvania public school classrooms in the name of the Obama campaign or the Clinton campaign. The donated money goes to fund projects submitted by Pennsylvania teachers. So far Obama’s donations are well ahead of Clinton’s. Obama’s donations have funded 85% of the $150,000 goal and impacted 26,018 students. Clinton’s donations have funded 37% of the $66,001 goal and impacted 5594 students. Visit the links above and scroll through the projects waiting to be funded.

To learn more, submit a project and/or make a donation, visit DonorsChoose.