On Tuesday at Mitchell County Elementary School in Baconton, Georgia, all 26 teachers received a major surprise from Georgia's Own Credit Union, which delivered over $3,000 worth of classroom supplies and set up a "pop-up shop" where they stocked up on critical items like Sharpies, crayons, colored pencils, hand sanitizer, Kleenex, glue, scissors, Post-It notes and snacks for their students. 

“Our children are our future, but they can only fully realize their dreams with the help of great teachers,” said Georgia’s Own Credit Union’s Southwest Region President Robert Youngblood. “Given the burden our educators have when it comes to paying for classroom supplies out of their own pockets, this initiative is our way of saying ‘thank you’ and making sure they know the community is here to support them.”

A 2023 survey of teachers by the Association of American Educators found that public school teachers spend an average of $673 out of their own pockets on classroom supplies, as most schools don’t have enough in the budget to afford them all the tools they need for students.

“These supplies help us a lot, because we pay for a lot of these ourselves,” said Kenterious Brown, a third-grade teacher at Mitchell County Elementary School. “Also, teachers don’t get paid until the beginning of the month, so any time we can get donations like this from the community, we are so grateful.”

Georgia's Own is also surprising teachers in Atlanta later this week, so in total, the credit union is delivering over $8,000 worth of classroom supplies for over 60 teachers in Georgia. This is the third year the credit union has surprised teachers with classroom supplies the first week of school, previously making a difference for Atlanta teachers at Garden Hills Elementary School in 2022 and Bolton Academy in 2023.