December 2011 Newsletter

Special Holiday In-School Distribution

Watch our short video!

The Education Partnership is making this holiday especially bright for 5,200 underserved students by providing $300,000 worth of school supplies, warm sweaters and the very popular “Pillow Pets” stuffed animals - for many of these children, this will be the only gift they receive this holiday season. 

The Education Partnership team and friends will visit 14 of our participating schools December 6 – 9, 2011 for this special event. Each student will receive a gift and a box full of items such as pencils, glue sticks, toothpaste and more.

Campaign Goals:

• Reach 5,200 students in our program through a special in-school distribution event
• Hand out $180,000 in school supplies
• Distribute $104,000 in “Pillow Pets” stuffed animals
• Give $15,000 in hand-made sweaters to younger grades

How You Can Help

We ask that you join us in making a measurable and significant difference in the lives of these young people, their families, and their teachers. Please consider us for your year-end giving and as an excellent resource to donate office and school supplies.  Click here to donate to this campaign.

This campaign is made possible in part by the following generous organizations:
Bell Containers, Inc., Children’s Hospital Foundation, Citizens Bank, First Student, Inc., Giant Eagle, Inc., Kits for Kidz, PITT OHIO, PNC Foundation, WQED and World Vision

WQED Hosts Product Drive  

The Education Partnership is pleased to be partnering with WQED to distribute high-quality PBS educational materials benefiting the students and teachers in our program.  From December 6 – 9, 2011, WQED is challenging the Pittsburgh community to donate school supplies at their Fifth Avenue location to help our young people reach their full potential.

As part of WQED’s iQ: smartmedia initiative, WQED will donate up to 1,700 pounds of classroom materials to The Education Partnership from some of the most popular PBS and WQED shows, like The Electric Company, SuperWhy, Dinosaur Train and Teens OnQ.  The community is encouraged to donate school supplies between December 6 – 9, 2001 at WQED’s parking lot, located at 4802 Fifth Avenue.  You can even meet a character from SuperWhy between 2:30 – 4:30 pm daily throughout the drive! 

Click here to watch our WQED video!

January School Supplies Distribution

The Education Partnership will be holding its second school supplies distribution Friday, January 13 – Saturday, January 31, 2012 (closed Sundays). Teachers from our 14 participating schools are scheduled to visit our facility between these dates to each pick up approximately $400 of school and classroom supplies - at no cost.  School and classroom supplies distributed during the January Distribution will serve up to 5,200 students and 520 teachers participating in our program.

Lend a Hand to Students and Teachers:

Make a significant difference in the lives of teachers and their students. Support a student’s educational success by considering us for a financial contribution. The Education Partnership is also an excellent resource to donate office and school supplies.

The Education Partnership is looking for volunteers to assist in January’s distribution. Opportunities include: assisting teachers in receiving supplies, restocking the Resource Center, packing bags at checkout, assisting with parking and loading teacher vehicles (must be able to lift 30lbs). For more information contact Erin Kucic at Erin@TheEducationPartnership.org or call 412.922.6500.

Download our Volunteer Flier

2,000 Students Receive Supplies Thanks to Social Media

Target Office Products agreed to graciously donate a pencil and sketchbook for every new “Like” The Education Partnership received on Facebook from October 17 – November 4, 2011. The Education Partnership started with76 followers at the beginning of the campaign.  In just three weeks, The Education Partnership reached a total of 937 followers.

The final count for total increased “Likes” during the campaign was 861. That is an average of 287 new followers each week and 41 new followers each day. Thanks to Target Office Products and our new Facebook fans, 2,000 students in our program will receive donated sketchbooks and pencils this school year.

Back To School Distribution Results

The Education Partnership completed its first teacher distribution for the 2011-2012 school year. Through the School and Classroom Supplies Initiative, teachers from The Education Partnership’s 14 participating school schools visited our Resource Center and left with approximately $400 worth of supplies for their students and classrooms… all at no cost!

August 2011 Distribution Snapshot:

• Distribution ran 16 days from August 1st-19th
• 14 out of 14partnering schools attended
• In total, approximately $168,000 worth of product was distributed to teachers at no cost
• Top 5 most distributed products (In order of most distributed to least): notebooks, glue sticks, copy paper ream, pens, binders

“Thank you for the wonderful day of shopping!  I took everything to school and do feel ready to start. Crayons, pencils, scissors, glue sticks and folders---everything needed for the first days!! Our school closets are empty of these essentials.....  BUT thanks to you, our students will have what is needed to begin a successful school year!” 
-Ms. Raymond, Teacher

Volunteers Make a Difference

Since July 2011, there have been a total of 290 volunteers, providing 1,900 service hours to our organization.

Thank you to our dedicated volunteer individuals and groups that gave their time to support our organization so far this school year:

• Communities in Schools
• Carnegie Mellon
• Highmark
• Group Cares, Inc.
• Light of Life Mission
• IKON Office Solutions
• Giant Eagle, Inc.
• OK Grocery Company
• ECHO Real Estate Services Company
• Pittsburgh Cares
• The Pittsburgh Project
• Gannon University Alumni
• General Mills
• AmeriCorps
• Gay For Good
• Arlington Academy
• Vibrant Pittsburgh

In October,Giant Eagle, Inc. and OK Grocery Company brought 29 volunteers for Pittsburgh Cares - A Day of Caring. They sorted Giant Eagle donations, prepared student gifts for our Holiday In-School Distribution, assisted in facility upkeep and prepared our Resource Center.

In November, The Education Partnership had their first volunteer event off site. The Education Partnership staff visited Concordia of the South Hills and the wonderful and hardworking residents sorted and folded approximately 1,200 sweaters to be distributed to schools during our Holiday In-School Distribution.

In November, 23 volunteers from AmeriCorps and Carnegie Mellon – Kappa Sigma painted the parking lot in preparation for winter, began stocking our Resource Center and sorted school supplies.

Interested in Volunteering?

Volunteer opportunities include: sorting school supply products and donations, facility upkeep, stocking our Resource Center for teachers and January Resource Center staff volunteers.

Contact the Volunteer Coordinator, Erin Kucic, at Erin@TheEducationPartnership.org, or call 412.922.6500 for more information.

Happy Holidays from your friends at The Education Partnership!