Past projects 20
Snacks for Success: Winter 2024 Edition
Funded Dec 3, 2024I am back in the classroom after taking leave for the birth of our child and am beyond excited to see students again! They hang out in our classroom and build connections and chat - during lunch, advisory, before and after school - and get snacks along the way. Not only are the snacks that y'all have helped me provide essential to students' well-being and nourishment, but they are helping build community in the school environment.
Now more than ever, my recent immigrant students are feeling unsupported, unsafe, and alone. Under explicit threat from the new administration, students are less likely than before to risk coming to school, getting groceries, and living their lives as they'd like to. Providing snacks is one way that I can build a bit of a mini safe zone, a mini social safety net, a mini community that makes them feel a sense of belonging and love.
Thanks again for all of your generous support!”
With gratitude,
Mr. Jonas
This classroom project was brought to life by The DonorsChoose Community and 12 other donors.Snacks for Success: Parental Leave Edition
Funded Sep 9, 2024Thanks, once again, for your generous support of my students! This continues to be a systemic problem: due to widespread poverty and lack of social support networks both within and outside our underfunded school system, my students a) are frequently hungry and without a steady food supply at home, and b) often have to work long hours after school to support their families. These factors contribute to chronic fatigue and make it more challenging for my students to focus on learning. While we can attempt to address some of the root causes of these challenges, the fixes are much broader, deeper, and longer term - and will not arrive quickly enough to fulfill my students' immediate needs. Providing snacks is a small way that we can support these students to make it through the day, learning and growing along the way.
We all thank you for your incredible support! There will be another refill project soon, as this need is continuous. As I already contribute thousands of dollars of my personal money to my classroom, I truly couldn't do this without you.”
With gratitude,
Mr. Jonas
This classroom project was brought to life by An Anonymous Supporter and 5 other donors.Snacks for Success: Spring Edition!
Funded Apr 5, 2024This is not our first rodeo. For years, I've taught English and social studies to recent immigrant students. The vast majority of these students and their families are truly struggling to make ends meet: most live in unstable housing, many face food insecurity and legal uncertainty, and many work multiple jobs to make ends meet. The schools serving these students - the schools where I've worked - lack sufficient funding or resources to adequately provide for these students' many needs. As such, teachers (and interventionists and social workers) are left to plug all of the many holes in our frayed social safety net - and to ensure our students are fed, clothed, housed, and safe.
I wish things weren't this way. I wish that we had a system that better provided for my students' needs so I didn't have to scramble whenever there was a crisis. But here we are. And you all, in providing funds for this project, are helping plug another of these safety-net holes in a very real way. My students truly appreciate your generosity in providing food so that they can make it through the school day - and day by day work slowly, but inexorably, towards graduation and the eventual achievement of their dreams. Thank you for providing them with a piece of this puzzle!”
With gratitude,
Mr. Jonas
Snacks for Success: Spring 2024!
Funded Feb 11, 2024Thank you one again for your generous contributions to my classroom! I've been doing this for years and am consistently awed (if that's a thing) by your kindness and support.
Every time I do this, I also comment that I wish I didn't have to. Living in an incredibly wealthy city, it's often quite frustrating to constantly have to ask for money, or to give testimony at school board meetings to ask for building repairs, or to agonize through a collective budgeting process to figure out which staffing cuts to make for next year. I buy and keep reams of paper in my classroom for when the school supply in the copiers runs out (which has happened numerous times this year). Money in this system is always tight. In short, we need to fully fund our schools.
And, watching the current political hellscape, I don't think we're in any danger of that happening. So expect more of these fundraisers as we continue soldiering on, trying to make this world a little better for the generations of amazing humans that find themselves in our classroom.
Anyway, that aside now finished, thank you once again for your incredible generosity! And even if you can't donate in the future (expect another fundraiser soon), I appreciate anything that you are able to give in support of my amazing students.”
With gratitude,
Mr. Jonas
Snacks for Success: Back Again!
Funded Nov 26, 2023Once again, you've made it happen for my students. Snacks are flying off the shelves. This has been an especially snack-intense time, as the weather has been unusually cold and the temporary pandemic-era EBT programs ended in December 2023. More and more students are bringing snacks home (and eating them), and I've been purchasing more and more other food to supplement the snacks I get here. I cannot describe my gratitude - and the students' gratitude - for your generous support of these amazing humans and their learning.
And honestly, I wish I didn't have to do these projects. I wish my kids didn't have to go home to empty fridges, work long hours, or - as frequently happens - drop out to pay for family members' medical bills, debts to coyotes or lawyers, or rent. But until we have systemic political change and an adequate social safety net, I'll be continuing to do these projects to ensure that all of my students have at least the most basic of resources they need to keep going throughout the school day.”
With gratitude,
Mr. Jonas
This classroom project was brought to life by Townsend Press and 7 other donors.Snacks for Success: Franklin High School!
Funded Sep 18, 2023Thank you so much for your continued generosity in supporting my classroom! As I'm at a new school this year, students were not expecting the snacks and were exceptionally excited when they were delivered! My classroom has become a bit of a destination for hungry students who may not have the financial bandwidth to buy their own supplementary food. Students know that when they are hungry or lacking focus, they are welcome to come by my room to grab a bite to help them get through the day.
As always, I'm not pretending that this is an all-encompassing solution. As a teacher of low-income students, I need to help students learn while providing for their basic needs - needs which are not met with our limited social safety net. Students are working long hours at night and guardians are working numerous jobs, struggling to pay rent and make ends meet. With my snacks projects, I'm only addressing a small symptom of the core issue - the fact that we, as a society, have chosen to not adequately provide for everyone's wellbeing.
So, even though I'm just treating a symptom of the core problem, your support is incredibly appreciated. Thank you for helping me meet my students' basic needs so they can remain focused on learning! And...the snacks are going quickly! Look for another project soon.”
With gratitude,
Mr. Jonas
Snacks for Success: Spring 2023 Edition!
Funded Mar 29, 2023Once again, you've come through and supported my classroom and my students - and I could not be more grateful. The snacks have arrived and the students are eagerly consuming them. Some students even take snacks home so they have enough food to eat in the evening. A few Muslim students have even brought snacks home to supplement their Iftar meals during Ramadan! While having snacks in a classroom will not solve the systemic challenges of poverty and food insecurity, this is certainly helping a not insignificant number of students get by on a day-to-day basis.
One day, I hope that all of my students have all their basic needs met. Ideally, this could happen through a holistic and encompassing social safety net that supports them enough so that they can focus on their education without constantly worrying about their next meal or rent payment. However, this is not where we are as a country or society - and until we are there, I will continue projects like this to meet my students' everyday needs. I truly appreciate the part that y'all play in ensuring my students are, at a bare minimum, fed and not hungry throughout the day. I love my students and want the best for them - and your contribution is one small piece of their future success.”
With gratitude,
Mr. Jonas
Snacks for Success: Spring 2023!
Funded Jan 24, 2023Once again, thank you so much for your generous support in supplying my classroom with snacks! It is a little wild that I need to keep doing this every few months, but this is how we operate in a society which does not guarantee all its members' basic needs will be fulfilled. I truly wish that all of my students had the ability to pay rent, attend school, have sufficient food, and meet their other basic needs - and to do so without having to work crushing jobs in the evening and night (see the recent New York Times investigation into what they call 'migrant child labor' - this is the majority of my students!) - but this is not the case.
Given all this, it is truly remarkable that my students show up every day ready to learn. It is challenging for them to maintain stamina throughout the day and continue learning English, especially if they have low literacy in their own language. The snacks play a small but critical role in boosting students' energy and spirit so they can continue learning, build their sense of self as students, and ensure they feel wholly welcomed and supported at school.
Thank you, again, for making this possible!”
With gratitude,
Mr. Jonas
Snacks for Success: Early Lunch Edition!
Funded Nov 18, 2022As in the past, the students have been extremely excited about the snacks! They are always coming by my room to grab a quick bite between (and sometimes during) classes. They often stop in if they miss breakfast or arrive late, grabbing some food to tide them over until the next break. Others bring snacks home for themselves or their siblings. All in all, the snacks are filling an important gap in the school day - ensuring students have enough food to continue learning.
I truly appreciate your continued support of my classroom and my students. My students bring many strengths, but also many needs, to the classroom each day; ensuring that my students are fed helps us all get off to a better start. Thank you for helping us all continue learning together!”
With gratitude,
Mr. Jonas
Snacks for Success - Team Edition!
Funded Sep 23, 2022We have almost eaten all the snacks...but students are unbelievably grateful for the food that you've provided. This year, our lunch is at 10:30 am, meaning that students are truly ravenous by the end of the day (3:40). While the snacks are especially critical for my last period class, they are also important for students throughout the school day - and beyond: many students bring home snacks to ensure they don't go hungry in the evenings.
As always, I wish that we had a system that better supported all families and students to reach their potentials - that ensured basic standards of living such that all students had equitable opportunities to achieve some levels of success. Alas, we are left to patch holes in our social safety net - holes which are often critical to supporting folks to reach their potential. This project fills one of those holes, and my students and I greatly appreciate your support.
While I only teach 1/4 of the students at our school, I'd estimate that nearly 3/4 of students have come into my classroom at some point to get snacks during the day. This project is filling a true need, and we greatly appreciate your continued support!”
With gratitude,
Mr. Jonas