Teaching Bonus

Last month I posted a project with DonorsChoose, an organization that helps pair teachers with benefactors who fund classroom projects.  Rather than asking for money, teachers who register with this site are directed to catalogs, from which they select supplies they desire to use in their classrooms.  I’d selected over $400 worth of yarn from an art supply catalog to use with students in my Fiber Arts Club and was eagerly awaiting donors, but was not wholly optimistic that any would step up to pay for my order. 

Yesterday I had a wonderful surprise.  Two donors, KiaMotors and the Craftsy.com Team, have funded my project!  I am now looking forward to a huge injection of colorful yarn into my club’s meager stash, a collection which was comprised mostly of odd bits of leftovers from my own knitting projects.  I was familiar with Craftsy.com before I saw the notice that this group had generously donated money and had even considered registering for some of their online classes.  I will definitely do so now.  And when I’m in the market for a new car, this gift has inspired me to definitely visit the Kia dealership near my home and check out their models.

I bought 20 of these bags for my club members, for less than $1.00 apiece at Wal-Mart.  

I imagine that my response to receiving this huge supply of yarn in the mail will be similar to how any hobby obsessed person might feel about receiving a windfall of items related to his or her mania.  My feelings will be no less intense than those experienced by a rabid football fan who opens an envelope containing free season tickets for his favorite team or those of a Lord of the Rings fancier who stumbles on one of the genuine rings used in filming the movie (fans of The Big Bang Theory will understand the deep sentiments conveyed by this reference).  My situation is a bit different from that of these football fans or fantasy fanciers, though, as this gift of yarn will keep on giving (sorry for the cliche), as I will be sharing this donation with the high school girls who are in my fiber arts club. 

Though we meet once a week on Fridays and it’s still early in the school year, this group of non-knitters has cast on and begun knitting.  Each day when I walk outside during lunchtime I see one or two girls carrying the brightly-colored bags I handed out on the first club meeting this year, so that students would have a place to keep their yarn and needles.  And I’ve heard talk from other teachers of how students are pulling out knitting during free time.  It’s rewarding to see the immediate impact of my teaching in this way, and I’m incredibly grateful to my generous donors for helping me pass on my beloved craft to young people.