Day 2 of 12 Days with Target and Martha Plimpton

Dear Ellen,
Each time I try to begin this letter, it just doesn’t sound right. Of course I should say that I enjoy your show. That’s a given. You make me laugh at the end of my work day with your humor and also make me cry when you give deserving people gifts and hope. I realize that you have worked very hard to put yourself into the position to be able to give. What a fabulous feeling it must be to give such huge gifts to people. I can’t even fathom the feeling. All I know is that it brings tears to my eyes. Maybe it’s due to the many hours each day I try to get my students to understand the word empathy. I am not sure, but what I do know is that I would love a chance to give some big gifts to deserving people just like you do. Here is my idea. It happens to be the season of your 12 days of giveaways and I would like to suggest having a giveaway day for teachers. Yes I realize that you have recognized many teachers in the past but what I propose is to give classroom supplies as the gifts. Knowing that teachers spend more time in their classrooms than in their home, how about making the classroom space fabulous for the teacher and his/her students. Giving a new wardrobe to a deserving teacher is fantastic, but it won’t necessarily change how the students learn. Giving a teacher and his/her classroom space new desks, chairs, flooring, posters, supplies, technology, etc. would affect the learning for many, many students today and years to come. I have 180 students in my classroom each semester and that’s just one classroom in one small district. It’s a fact that schools are losing state and federal monies and districts have to reduce the amount of money teachers can spend on supplies in order to keep staff. Many teachers do not get a budget to spend on classroom supplies. Educational supplies are extremely expensive and many teachers buy what they can to keep their classrooms functioning and students learning. A new student chair is over $100, a desk is $300 plus. A skeletal model is at least $800. (I am a Health teacher, not all teachers want a skeleton in their classroom! Many probably have them in their closet )
So that is my crazy idea, not that your talented staff needs any help coming up with ideas. But just in case they are drawing a blank, I will let them use my idea!

Thanks for doing all that you do! Keep us laughing and keep on giving!
Sincerely,
Jill Lamica