HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Teachers are increasingly reaching into their own pockets to resupply their classrooms before each new school year. It's been the mission for a local organization to lighten that load. Now, for the 13th year, Free 2 Teach has its doors open for Madison City, Madison County, and Huntsville City school teachers.
Discovery Middle School Band Director Jenney Merritt explained that as a teacher having a resource such as Free 2 Teach in the area is very beneficial. "It's absolutely a huge blessing to have a resource like this in our area. I've got over 300 students. I don't necessarily have access to, you know, my own classroom checkbook or classroom credit card. I can come and get it and I know it's going to be there. Today, I just checked out, and I saved almost $700."
According to the National Education Association on average, educators spend somewhere between $500 and $750 of their own money every year on things students need. Melva Tignor is a first grade teacher at Heritage Elementary, and Tignor said books are very important for her first graders who are further developing their reading skills. "It's just extremely difficult when you're trying to purchase basic supplies. just make sure that everybody has them in your classroom. I've been trying to change up my read aloud, and we usually do Magic Treehouse, but a lot of the kids can read those by the end. So I was looking for some new chapter books so we can kind of change it up this year."
Free 2 Teach Executive Director Alison Kling also said this experience goes beyond the classroom. "There's inspirational items. We've got lesson kits. We work with our community members. Raytheon had a solar kit program that they built for our teachers to take. We have a feminine hygiene program for teachers to take, what a girl would need. It's really exciting."