Daly Elementary School teachers will have a little extra help when it comes to stocking their classrooms this fall, thanks to a new project by the Fayette Rotary Club.

The club has received a $1,440 matching District Simplified Grant (DSG) from Rotary District 6080 and will match the grant with another $1,440. The resulting $2,880 will be used to provide classroom supplies for approximately 30 teachers at Daly Elementary School.

The project, appropriately named “Classroom Wishes Come True,” is designed to help ease the financial burden many teachers face when purchasing supplies for their classrooms.

National studies indicate that nearly 94% of teachers spend their own money on classroom supplies each year, with many spending more than $500. Those purchases can include everything from basic supplies such as paper and pencils to instructional materials and other resources that help make learning more effective and engaging. Fayette Rotary members hope the project will give Daly Elementary teachers an opportunity to receive some of the supplies they would otherwise purchase on their own.

Participants include 20 classroom teachers, three special education teachers, two Title teachers, four special area teachers, and one in-school suspension teacher.

Teachers are submitting their requests through an online wish list, providing the vendor, item name, description, and other information needed to identify each item. Fayette Rotary members will organize the completed lists by vendor and submit them to the Fayette R-III School District for purchase. Whenever possible, similar items will be combined to take advantage of quantity pricing and help stretch the available grant funds. The Rotary Club will reimburse the school district for the items purchased.

To make the purchasing process more efficient and help ensure the grant funds go as far as possible, teachers have been asked to select items from a limited number of vendors: Amazon, Walmart, Lakeshore Learning, School Specialty, or Target. Limiting the vendors will also make it easier to organize the requests and combine orders when possible.

When the supplies arrive, Rotary volunteers will help organize and sort the items for the individual teachers. The project will conclude with a distribution event celebrating the teachers and the partnership between Fayette Rotary and the Fayette R-III School District.

For Fayette Rotary, the project is a practical way to put the Rotary motto of “Service Above Self” to work in the local community. By helping teachers with some of the everyday costs of running a classroom, Rotary hopes to make a difference not only for educators but also for the students who benefit from the supplies and resources they provide.