Interview with Malena Ball
Photos courtesy of The Ohlmann Group

Malena Ball, marketing coordinator for the Ohio-based nonprofit Crayons to Classrooms, shares how the organization is supporting teachers and students in Miami Valley.

Tell us about your company’s mission:
About 70 percent of students in our area don’t have basic necessities, so teachers will spend their own money to get those items for them. We work to bridge that gap by securing and distributing school supplies at no cost to teachers, ensuring that every student has the tools they need to succeed inside the classroom. We believe that no teacher should have to take on such a financial burden and that no student should have to struggle due to a lack of supplies.

How do teachers get these supplies?
Right now, we work with 143 schools in the region, including childcare centers and pre-K to twelfth grade. Teachers from schools where 60 percent or more of the students participate in the National School Lunch Program can come to our store in Dayton once a semester and collect classroom materials. It’s stocked with a wide range of supplies, from everyday essentials like notebooks to larger necessities like backpacks; we also provide cleaning products, bulletin board decorations, and books. Everything is new and organized, so it’s a great shopping experience. And on each trip, teachers can take up to $2,000 worth of items.

What kinds of supplies are typically needed most?
The most commonly requested supplies are basic ones that many people might take for granted—pencils, crayons, markers, and notebooks. We actually have volunteers make the latter for us, and those always fly off the shelves. Our inventory can change according to the season too. For instance, in winter, we’ll provide pieces of clothing like hats, socks, and underwear on top of our typical stock. It’s sometimes hard to keep up with demand since so many students need the items we offer.

How would you describe Crayons to Classrooms’ impact?
Since we launched in 2009, we’ve distributed $40 million in supplies. The impact is incredible, and we hear about it directly from teachers all the time. They often share stories about students who would come to school without a backpack or pencils and how being able to provide them made a huge difference.

Having access to supplies also boosts students’ confidence. Imagine being a child who doesn’t have crayons or markers for an art project while your peers do. That feeling of being left out or unprepared can be discouraging. But when a student has what they need, they engage more in their learning and feel more included in the classroom experience. And for teachers, the relief is significant since they don’t have to spend their own money on materials. It allows them to focus on teaching rather than worrying about whether they’ll have enough notebooks or tissues for their students.

How can people support your organization?
There are several ways to get involved, and every little bit counts. Monetary donations are tremendous since they enable us to purchase items for the store. People can give one-time gifts or join our Backpack Boosters program, through which they can make a monthly contribution of their choosing—it only takes $8 a month to support a student for an entire year! We’ll also take new school supplies donated directly; we accept everything from pencils and crayons to notebooks and backpacks.

Volunteering is another great opportunity to support our mission. We rely on volunteers to organize donations, stock shelves in our store, and assist during teacher shopping days. Further, businesses and community groups can host supply drives, events that not only make a tangible impact on local classrooms but also bring people together.

For those outside our region, we have remote volunteer projects, including making ten-page notebooks for our store or sewing pocket hugs, small shapes students can use to help them concentrate during class. We’ve had people from as far away as Hawaii and Utah send in completed projects, so that’s really exciting to see.

With the school year starting soon, do you have any current initiatives?
Our big push right now is our Stuff the Bus campaign. It takes place every summer from July 1 to August 31 and allows us to collect as many supplies as possible before the school year begins. During this time, we encourage businesses, organizations, and individuals to host school-supply drives to fill our store shelves. But that’s not the only way to participate—people can also donate supplies directly or contribute financially.

To make things fun, we keep track of the number of donations that groups bring in and recognize those who contribute the most. Additionally, we have an online donation page where people can form teams and see how their contributions compare to others. Both serve to add a bit of friendly competition. All in all, this campaign is just another way for Crayons to Classrooms to help ensure that every teacher has the resources they need to create a successful learning environment.

For more info, visit crayonstoclassrooms.org