Staples Surprises Boston-Area Schools!

Disclosure: This post reflects a compensated editorial partnership with Staples. This partnership is 100% awesome and relevant since I already buy all of my school and office supplies at Staples. All storytelling about school supply shopping procrastination are, of course, my own.

So, er, have you started your school supply shopping yet? School supply request lists for both Laurel and Violet came out the other week and I will admit, I’ve been procrastinating. I just haven’t been able to fully wrap my head around the idea of school supply shopping yet. Until today, that is! Here’s why:

A couple of months ago I shared about how Staples and Katy Perry are working to support teachers across the country. This is a big deal personally, given that I’m a major proponent of public education, but also because the basic tough reality that -- according to the Education Market Association -- almost all (as in, 99.5%) of public school teachers use their own money to equip their classrooms, often at a cost of more than $400 per year.

Major bummer, right? But I have a few cool, happy things to share.

#1 - Yay for Boston Schools!

As part of the #StaplesForStudents campaign, today Staples announced that every Boston and Metrowest project posted on DonorsChoose.org received full funding as part of Staples’ $1 million donation to DonorsChoose.org, a charity that has funded more than 700,000 classroom projects for teachers and has positively affected more than 18 million U.S. students. With this donation of $437,624, Staples helped 255 Boston area teachers, impacting more than 27,000 students across 96 schools. So fantastic, right? For example Thomas Shull, a 9th grade teacher at the Quincy Upper School, received core school supplies like pencils, erasers, highlighters, folders and more in addition to a MacBook Pro for his Speech Therapy students. His students will use the MacBook Pro to shoot and edit films like “How to Ace a Job Interview” and to write journalism articles. Projects like these will help his students develop language, content, writing skills and advance their computer skills at the same time.

#2 - And You Can Help Raise Money For Local Schools Too!

By using the Staples for Students Snapchat Geofilter now through August 17th, every use of the Geofilter will trigger a $1 donation (up to $5,000) from Staples to be used towards Boston classroom projects on DonorsChoose.org. The Geofilter is available for use in the Staples store at 1 Washington Mall, and in the surrounding area, as well as at the Staples home office at 500 Staples Drive in Framingham.

#3 - And Since It’s Time To Shop School Supplies Anyway...

So here’s where I return to my point about school supply shopping and ending the procrastination train! Now through September 10, spend $25 or more in any Staples store and you’ll receive a unique entry code on your receipt to enter to win (at StaplesForStudents.com) a $50,000 scholarship plus a trip for two to Los Angeles to meet Katy Perry! Aside from this grand prize winner, four additional winners plus one guest each will also win air travel to Los Angeles, two nights stay, and spending money to meet Katy Perry at the Winners VIP Celebration.

So hop on over to learn more about the DonorsChoose.org partnership and enter to win the Staples For Students sweepstakes! And shake a few pom poms for Staples, Katy Perry, and DonorsChoose.org for supporting Boston schools through this amazing donation. HOORAY!