Crayons to Classrooms a Great Place to Volunteer

Crayons to Classroom is a non-profit organization that has been helping teachers out since 2009. “Since opening our doors in 2009, we have distributed more than $12M in school supplies to over 13,700 teachers,” said Steve Rubenstein, the Executive Director of Crayons to Classrooms. Teachers can shop in the store full of school supplies up to two times in one year completely free. Sometimes, teachers walk away with $500 worth of supplies without paying a single dime. There are also prizes as teacher’s check out. One prize includes an entire Yoobi box, which contains pens, pencils, markers, crayons, paper, etc. 

The organization started when a group of Dayton businesses got together and decided that the teachers in the Dayton area deserved to be helped. Since then, multiple volunteers, including myself, work to make sure teachers can come in, get what their classroom needs, and be able to teach classes efficiently. The store also has multiple partners, such as Kroger. Anyone is also able to drop off school supplies. “We have to process the product donations we receive every week and it takes a lot of “behind the scenes” work in order to get the merchandise on the store display shelves. Sometimes we receive full truckloads of donations! We have two full-time employees devoted to this task, in addition to all the volunteers needed to restock the store,” said Rubenstein. 

Katie Jones, a volunteer for Crayons to Classrooms, said, “I love volunteering there after school. It is a great environment, and I love seeing the teachers walking away with an entire cart full of supplies to help their students.” Students from all over can volunteer to help them out. They are very flexible with volunteer’s hours and when they are able to work. For example, I have multiple extracurricular activities and a part-time job, but they worked with me so that I can volunteer. 

If you are interested in volunteering or want to see what Crayons to Classrooms is, contact Michelle Koogler at M.Koogler@dc2c.org.