2020 Giving to Honor our Clients and Friends and Help Communities in Need

By all accounts, 2020 was a very different year. With so many teachers and students challenged by the Coronavirus pandemic, for some holiday gifts this year we at Triniti honored our clients, friends, and partners by contributing on their behalf to carefully selected teachers and classrooms in need using the wonderful Donors Choose platform.

As an extension of our efforts earlier in the year on Donors Choose, we chose projects in the communities near each honoree, and where we could complete or fully fund the project. In total, we donated to deliver needed materials to over 900 students across the United States.

You can check out all of the worthy recipients below, and if you’d like to know a bit more about how we chose, check out this post from our earlier round of contributions using Donors Choose.

A few of the projects we selected and initial teacher responses:

Distant Learning: Learn Through Play, for the 7 speech impaired, students with autism, intellectually delayed, and non-mobile students in Teacher Torres’ PreK-grade 2 classroom. This project funds math and letter manipulative kits that the students can use upon their return to the classroom. Teacher Torres wrote:

“Well into the covid 19 and having to distant learn at school. We will use these materials at a distance. While we keep our distance we can give the students hands-on manipulative without having to share too often and give us time to disinfect without wasting time. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.”

Distance Learning Problem Solving, for the 25 students in Mrs. White’s grades 3-5 class. This project included kits for each student including 2 books and the Rush Hour logic puzzle game all of which can be done away from computer screens.

From Mrs. White: “My third grade students have been learning via distance learning since August, and I am so proud of their effort and hard work. They will be over the moon with excitement when they find out about this Distance Learning kit that they will have at home.”

Flex for Focus, for the 35 students in Ms. O’s PreK-grade 2 class. Ms. O explained the classroom’s needs as follows:

“Our flexible seating classroom is constantly under construction. We recently had the good fortune to have a project funded for a new, round table. The table is considered a "floor" table. While it has legs, they are extremely short. The idea is that the kids sit on the floor. I would rather my students not have to sit directly on the floor. Therefore, I feel that these flex-space floor seats will make them feel worthy while they learn. They can adjust the chairs so that they can extend their legs, or sit criss-cross applesauce and have back support. These Comfy Floor Seats are going to provide the perfect seating for the floor table that we just received! They are also a match with the color scheme that we are striving for in order to create a calm place for kids to focus.”

High School Survival Kit, for the 210 students in Mr. Kowalski’s grade 6-8 classroom. This project provided each graduating 8th grader with a kit of the materials they will be expected to have as they enter high school, such as pencils, pens, notebooks, and a drawstring bag. Mr. Kowalski explained,

“Many of my students struggle to obtain supplies for school. This year they are going to be graduating from 8th grade. My goal is to give each student a High School Survival Kit. A High School Survival Kit can help a student spend less time stressing over if they have enough materials to succeed high school, and given them more time to actually focus on learning and having fun. Students will benefit by not having to stress over supplies for high school. They can use more of their time enjoying just being a student and doing what needs to be done for their education.”

Preparing to Pivot, for the 16 students in Mrs. Lester’s PreK-grade 2 classroom. Mrs. Lester’s project includes materials needed as students pivot back to remote learning or if they continue learning in class:

“As we near flu season and the rise of Covid numbers we need to be prepared to pivot to remote learning. Remote teaching will be much easier with a document camera and good lighting so my students can see what we are working on.
Keeping remote learning engaging will be key to success.
Materials such as chart paper and markers will keep lessons interactive. With various card stock, I can create manipulatives for the students to have during our live sessions. If we are lucky enough to remain at school all of these items will be just as useful.”

School Supplies for All, for the 20 students in Mrs. Mathewson’s Grade 3-5 class. This project funded much needed school supplies and decorations for Mrs. Mathewson’s classroom. She explained:

“In my classroom we use materials like pencils, crayons, scissors, and glue sticks daily. We are desperately in need of more supplies like these in my room. We are also asking for a few decorations, like a new boarder for our bulletin board, and a decoration for our classroom door.
I'm posting this project in the hopes that we can not only get a few much needed supplies but also so we can get some materials to make my classroom a more exciting place to learn.
I'm also asking for multiplication cards. My goal is to have a set for each student. Learning all of the multiplication facts is one of the major goals of third grade and I know having flash cards will help us achieve this goal.”

STEM: Scientists Ready for Action!, for the 15 students in Mrs. Castellano’s PreK-grade 2 classroom. This project funds STEM learning kits for the students:

“Thank you so much for supporting and encouraging the incredible growth that is taking place in my classroom. Every day we are pushing ourselves to learn more and become stronger in STEM. The materials you are providing for our second grade classroom are so essential in helping me try to reach all of my students. The Lakeshore Learning Science Activity Tubs Gr 1-3 will especially help my students who are struggling to understand what STEM is and how it applies to their everyday life. They will able to build models to show what they know and are thinking about both now in class and what they dream to do in the future.

Not only will my students now be able to share their dreams and aspirations with others, they will know that you care about their education and want them to succeed. This alone will make them want to try harder and learn more each day. Thank you for making this possible!”

We Love LEGO, for the 18 students in Mrs. Stanfill’s PreK-grade 2 class. The project included LEGO and DUPLO sets and bases to refresh the students’ creativity and cognitive thinking in class.

From Mrs. Darling: "Thank you so much for donating to my preschool classroom! My classroom will benefit so much with LEGO sets. I am so excited to have them start building and play as soon as we get back from winter break! You just made a preschool teacher and her well deserved students very happy!”

We Love Sequels!, for the 350 students in Mrs. Haywood’s PreK-grade 2 classroom. This project bought over a dozen books featuring recurring characters and storylines for Mrs. Haywood’s classroom library. She replied:

“I literally jumped for joy to see that this project was funded (My son asked me what was going on)! This has been a challenging year at school for sure, but thinking about how excited our students, teachers, and families will be to have these books in our school library fills my heart and gives me a boost to focus on the positive and look forward to giving our young learners the best 2021 we can.

Thank you for your generosity. We would not be able to afford these books without it, and I know that these titles will be loved by our entire school community for years and years to come!”