Windermere Prep Students Collect School Supplies for A Gift for Teaching

Windermere Prep First Grader Robert Brand presents A Gift For Teaching President Gary Landwirth one of the boxes of supplies collected and decorated by WPS students.

Windermere Prep School first and second graders recently collected school supplies to benefit local needy students as a community service project. WPS students put together over 100 care packages for the .A Gift for Teaching program.

The mission of A Gift for Teaching is to ensure that children in Central Florida have the basic tools for learning. The program gathers supplies from individuals and businesses and offers them to teachers from schools in Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties where 60 percent or more of the students qualifying for a free or reduced-rate lunch. Teachers from qualifying schools can “shop” for free supplies for their students at the AGFT store once a month.

A Gift for Teaching opened its doors servicing 30 public schools in 1998. The program has been able to expand its reach into 296 public schools.

Windermere Prep students filled and decorated the boxes. Items in the boxes included basic school supplies such as pencils, scissors, erasers, notepads and a little novelty or two. Students also included a note in each box telling their first name, a little about themselves, and a question for the recipient. Teachers reported receiving thank you notes from the teachers who got the WPS boxes.