Due to the current economic times, school districts provide fewer supplies with the expectation that families will purchase the additional materials their children need. Many families can not afford to gather these supplies because they are too expensive. For families with multiple children, purchasing school supplies can be a burden. One of our goals at Mitzvah Circle is to ensure that children have all of the supplies needed to begin a successful school year when they enter their classroom on the first day.

Our program began with one teacher, Mrs. G., who had been teaching for thirty years. The socioeconomics of her elementary school shifted and she found herself with twenty-three students who were eager to learn, but lacking the materials to begin a new year. When Mrs. G. asked one of her students why he was not turning in his homework, he reported that there were no pencils in his home.

The next day, his homework was completed with the only writing implement he could find, a piece of a broken crayon. He wanted to learn but was missing an essential tool — a pencil. We swiftly provided Mrs. G. all the supplies needed for an entire year of learning for all twenty-three students.

Since this initial class, hundreds of children each year are provided with markers, crayons, pencils, notebooks and many other essential supplies which add to the joy of learning.