Minnesota Teacher of the Year

I wanted to extend a special note of thanks to our local ING Investments office. A few weeks ago they sent me an email telling me that I had been selected to be the recipient of their school supplies drive for this year. It turns out that every year their office collects random supplies from staff, puts them all together, and gives them to one teacher for use in his or her classrooms. This year I was the winner.

Last week I stopped by our district office to pick up the supplies. There was an entire cart of stuff: backpacks, notebooks, pencils, crayons, markers, clips, paper, folders, etc. By the time I got everything to my car I had filled a half dozen grocery bags to the top.

Although teachers have a certain amount of supplies in school, we are always short of stuff for the classroom and for special activities. Some students often don’t have basic class supplies either, and it’ll be great to be able to help these students out. I’ll put everything that I’ve received to good use, and will be able to spread this generosity out to dozens of people. The big box of crayons that we received already was put to use this past weekend: we used them at a coloring table at a local Pumpkin Festival, where Japanese students had volunteered to man a booth of activities for children.

When I speak in public, I often emphasize the importance of breaking down our isolated schools and linking community, parents, and schools in a powerful triangle of support and learning. ING’s gifts are a perfect example of one way that an office or business can get involved in education and make a difference.

Thank you!