GRAND RAPIDS, Michigan — At the beginning of October, a Forest Hills Teacher reached out to her students' families to ask them to provide personal recess supplies -- kids could no longer share due to COVID-19 regulations.
One parent, Audrey Wendt, did more than just respond to the email.
Wendt thought about what other children in lower income communities and what their parents would do in a situation where they might have to come up with something more in order to give their child a simple break.
The next day she called Buchanan Elementary only to find out that her thoughts were true for most parents according to teachers and that something as simple as crayons and coloring books could make a big difference in their kindergarten classes.
"The materials they asked for where so simple, that I thought we could do that, in fact we could do better than that," Wendt said.
She created an Amazon Wish List with certain materials both her and the teachers decided on, only to wake up to over a thousand dollars worth of donations.
Two weeks later and they've reached $11,000 in donations, covering the school supply needs of pre-k through second grade, including gym.
With in-person learning now delayed until next semester for Grand Rapids Public Schools, Wendt says she is just more encouraged to finish the needs of the last three grades at Buchanan.
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