Crayons2Calculators - The Durham Teacher Warehouse Corp.

Education Celebration 2009!

Use this form to RSVP for Crayons2Calculators’ second annual Education Celebration!

About the Education Celebration
The Education Celebration is a fundraising event celebrating the two year anniversary of the opening of our teacher warehouse. This year’s celebration will be on Tuesday, April 7th, 2009 in the Doris Duke Center in the Sarah P. Duke Gardens. The evening consists of three parts:

>Dinner from 7pm to 10pm ($50),

>Open Bar from 10pm to 11pm ($10), and

>After Party from 11pm to 2am ($10).

Please use the form below to RSVP.

Dinner
Dinner will be from 7pm 10pm and will feature delicious appetizers, a dinner buffet, dessert and a selection of wine and beer. During dinner, the program will consist of inspirational stories from C2C team members and teachers whose lives have been touched by C2C. Please donate $50 if you plan to attend the dinner.

Open Bar
The Dinner will be followed by an hour-long Open Bar from 10pm to 11pm at the Doris Duke Center. If you are attending the Open Bar, please donate $10.

After Party
The After Party at the Doris Duke Center will last from 11pm to 2pm. Come hang out with the C2C team and friends! If you are attending the Open Bar, please donate $10.

Please click the Paypal button below to RSVP. The most popular options are Dinner ($50), Open Bar + After Party ($20), and After Party ($20). If you cannot attend, please click the “donate” button below and to support C2C’s work anyway! For questions, please contact Sam at sam@crayons2calculators.org. Hope you can join us for this fun evening.

C2C announces the hiring of first Executive Director

Crayons2Calculators today announced the selection of Jenna Boitano as the organization’s inaugural Executive Director. Jenna was selected after a two-month search that drew over two dozen applicants. “We interviewed many quality candidates for the Executive Director position. We offered the job to our number one choice, Jenna Boitano, and she has accepted our offer,” said John Mishler, the chairman of the Board of Directors. “I know Jenna will do an incredible job as Executive Director and as an advocate for C2C.”

Most recently, Jenna served as Director of Community Resources at Fresh Lifelines for Youth, a non-profit in San Jose, California, that helps at-risk teens turn their lives around through education, training, and mentorship programs. She brings extensive experience in non-profit management, fundraising, and youth mentorship.

Send Jenna a welcome message at jenna(at)crayons2calculators(dot)org

An interview with C2C’s new Executive Director

C2C’s new Executive Director, Jenna Boitano, sat down with Sam Abramson for an interview:

Quick bio: Jenna received a B.A. from the University of Michigan in 1997 and a J.D. from Santa Clara University in 2003. Since August of 2006 she has been the Director of Community Resources at Fresh Lines for Youth, Inc, a non-profit organization in San Jose, California.

What brings you to Durham?
I moved to Durham in June. My husband, Joshua, is currently doing post-doc work in Biochemistry at Duke.

What is your past experience with non-profits?
I have been involved with non-profit organizations since high school and worked with a wide range of causes from children with physical and developmental disabilities to adult literacy learners. For the last six years, I have work with an organization in the Bay Area called Fresh Lifelines for Youth (FLY). FLY’s mission is to prevent juvenile crime and incarceration through legal education, mentoring, and leadership training. I started there as a volunteer mentor and then joined the staff to run the Mentor Program. For the last two years, I have been the Director of Community Resources working on fund development, volunteer recruitment and placement, in-kind donation solicitation, and basically anything else that programs needed to run.

Why are you excited to join the C2C team?
I am excited to join C2C for a couple of reasons. First, I love the mission. Teachers have so many things to worry about. I am happy that C2C can make sure they have the supplies they need to than they can focus on teaching. Second, I love that C2C is a new organization. Since I am from the Bay Area, I am a little bit of a start-up junkie. I am excited to help develop the organization and to work with the people that have been involved since the beginning.

Where you like to take C2C? What do you plan to do as Executive Director?
As Executive Director, I would like to take the amazing things that have already been done at C2C and build on them. I don’t have a fully formulated plan yet - there is still a lot more that I need to learn about the organization and what is already in place. I look forward to connecting with people that are involved with the organization (board members, students, donors, teachers, etc) and hearing their thoughts.

What is your favorite ice cream flavor?
It’s so hard to pick just one but I would say Jamoca Almond Fudge.

Spotlight on Eastway

This post profiles Eastway Elementary School, one of the many elementary schools in Durham that C2C serves.

Eastway Elementary has 622 pre-K to 5th grade students from many diverse cultural backgrounds. Just over 90% of Eastway’s students are on free or reduced lunch plans, but parents are incredibly supportive and the school has made tremendous strides recently. In 2004-2005, the school did not make expectations for North Carolina statewide ABC testing regulations, but recently, it has greatly improved, moving into the category of “Expected Growth.”

Fifteen teachers from Eastway Elementary attended C2C’s November 1st, 2008 giveaway. Star Sampson, Eastway’s principal and 2008 Principal of the Year, says, “Thanks to Crayons2Calculators for donating free materials for our students. Many of our families do struggle financially and it certainly helps our teachers to teach the curriculum with the necessary school supplies. Having special tools allows our teachers the ability to plan effectively. This means that lessons are engaging and students are happy with learning and not bored. Eastway has made academic growth over the past few years due to following the SCOS (Standard Course of Study), having dedicated teachers on staff, active parent involvement, and students who are held accountable for learning. Without help from the community and businesses we would not be able to promote successful student achievement. We appreciate your continued support as we continue to dig in to Stamina, Rigor and Pride.”

Job Posting: Executive Director (Part Time)

Crayons2Calculators is seeking a part-time Executive Director to oversee the day-to-day activities of the organization. Download the full job description here. Please note this job posting closes October 31.

Next giveaway November 1st

Teachers at Hillandale, Eastway, Oak Grove, Burton, Fayetteville Street, and Bethesda Elementary Schools, this is an invitation just for you!

Crayons2Calculators has a store full of school supplies waiting to be given away! Come by our warehouse any time Saturday, November 1st to ‘shop’ for $100 worth of free supplies for YOUR classroom.

When: Saturday, November 1st from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM

Where: Crayons2Calculators Warehouse
109 E. Chapel Hill St., Durham, NC
(At the five points intersection in Downtown Durham)

What to Bring: Your Teacher ID is your ticket to the giveaway

Questions: email michael@crayons2calculators.org or call 804.873.7853

Coverage in “This Month at Duke”

“This Month at Duke” ran an article about Crayons2Calculators in August, highlighting the role college students at Duke and UNC have played in conceiving and growing C2C.

An excerpt:

When first-grade teacher Susan Heath first walked into the downtown Durham warehouse and looked over the stacks of paper, spiral-bound notebooks and boxes of crayons and pencils, she assumed the supplies were discounted.

Crayons2Calculators, a non-profit organization operated by eight undergraduate students from Duke and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, arranged the giveaway.

Read the whole story here.

Thanks to DRAR and “Fill the Bus”

A tremendous thank you to the Durham Regional Association of Realtors (DRAR) for their generous support of C2C and the Durham Public Schools. Realtors from across Durham County participated in the association’s annual “Fill the Bus” campaign, donating thousands of dollars of new school supplies that literally filled up a school bus!

In mid-August, the bus drove down to the C2C warehouse and realtors volunteered their time to unload its goods into the warehouse. One week later, teachers from elementary schools across the system were invited to shop for free at C2C. Thanks to the support of the realtors, the August 23 giveaway was our biggest yet — 189 teachers from seven elementary schools received $15,000 worth of supplies. Thanks especially to the DRAR Education Committee for organizing the “Fill the Bus” campaign.

Read more here.

Attend the Education Celebration!

Our Education Celebration, a fundraising dinner celebrating the one year anniversary of the opening of our teacher warehouse, will be held on Thursday, April 10 at Parizade Restaurant. Please contact sam@crayons2calculators.org if you would like more information. If you would like to donate and/or RSVP, please click the button below and follow the instructions.

UPDATE
The following is the text of the invitation:

The Crayons2Calculators Team Invites You to
Our 1st Annual Education Celebration
in honor of
The One Year Anniversary of the Opening of Our Teacher Warehouse
Thursday, April 10th
7:30 – 10:00 pm
Parizade Restaurant
Erwin Square
2200 West Main Street
Durham, North Carolina
The event will feature a selection of beer and wine and a three course dinner,
an opportunity to hear about C2C’s achievements in the past year and
teacher accounts of C2C’s impact on their student’s educational experiences.
For more information please call (203) 912–0068

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You may RSVP for this event by clicking the “Donate” button above.

Announcing Spring Supply Giveaway Event

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Durham, N.C. (Mar. 20) - Crayons2Calculators, a non-profit that provides free school supplies to Durham, N.C. teachers, today announced plans to host its seventh giveaway event. The giveaway is a day-long event during which teachers from six select schools are invited to visit the Crayons2Calculators (C2C) warehouse to “shop” for school supplies like binders, crayons and pencil sharpeners on Saturday, April 12. At past giveaway events, teachers have received up to $100 worth of free school supplies each.

Teachers from six public elementary schools are invited to attend the April 12 event. The teachers must come during the window that is assigned to their school. All attendees must show their teacher ID as their pass into the giveaway. The invited elementary schools are listed below with the relevant time window.

Creekside: 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
Hilandale: 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
Hope Valley: 12 noon to 1:30 p.m.
Little River: 12 noon to 1:30 p.m.
Magnum: 2 p.m. to 3 p.m.
Morehead: 2 p.m. to 3 p.m.

The location of the event is the C2C Warehouse in downtown Durham. The address and an online map follow.

Crayons2Calculators
109 East Chapel Hill St.
Durham, NC 27701
View Map

For questions relating to this event, attendees are welcome to contact ashley@crayons2calculators.org.

Crayons2Calculators - The Durham Teacher Warehouse Corp. is a 501(c)3 non-profit initiated by Duke University students and Robertson Scholars from the University of North Carolina in collaboration with Durham community members. The group’s website states, “Our mission is to serve the educational and creative needs of Durham schoolchildren by providing free school supplies to classroom teachers.”

Press contact:
John Mishler
john@crayons2calculators.org