Save The Day: April 19
9 PM update
As you’ve probably seen, the DonorsChoose.org site is rolling out a new interface. We might face a bug or two in the next couple of days, but don’t forget that you can always search the spreadsheet (thanks, Amanda!) for projects of interest. And don’t forget Debby’s Tiniest Tomatoes page promotion — scroll down for more details!
Just to remind you what a great job you’ve done so far, I’d like to share an email from Anna M., a teacher you hooked up:
I am a first-year teacher at a small charter school in Minnesota. 80% of our students receive free or reduced price lunch, so we are considered a high-poverty school. Because of the many needs of our students, funding is always tight. I was hired this year as the first and only ELL (English Language Learners) teacher. While I did have some money to buy curriculum and materials, it wasn’t enough to get everything I need to help my 50 or so students.
I discovered Donors Choose in November, and had my first project funded fairly quickly with the help of an Almost Home offer and the support of friends and family. My second project was funded through another Almost Home offer and the help of Tomato Nation. (Funny story: I passed out permission slips to my first- and second-grade students today so I can post their pictures in the thank-you online. I told them people donated over $500 to help buy them books. They didn’t understand at first, and one of them got a really scared look on her face and said, “My mom can’t pay that kind of money!”)
I discovered Tomato Nation when DC mentioned the Save the Day campaign on their blog. I was (and continue to be) amazed at the amount of support from the TN community. I have been following the TN blog, as well as Charmaine’s Tomato Helper blog, all month. I cannot tell you how much your support means to teachers, and although the financial support is great, it is just as great to see people support education and teachers. It seems about once a week I read an article in the paper or online about what’s wrong with our education system and what’s wrong with teachers. Yes, there are bad teachers out there, but a majority of us are working our behinds off to help our students! Seeing your support helps remind me that there are so many people out there who appreciate the work teachers do.
As both a recipient of DC-funded projects and as a donor to various projects I’ve seen featured on the TN giving pages, it’s hard to say if it is more satisfying to have my own project funded or to help get other projects funded. Both are great feelings. I’ve told Charmaine I need to stop reading the blogs because I keep donating to projects I’ve seen featured because I can’t resist. I’m closing on my first house next week (and I’ve started to go through the “Holy crap, what am I doing?” phase), so money is tight, but it’s just so addicting to help students!
Thank you again for all you are doing. I hope you realize how much of a difference you are making in the lives of students (and their teachers)!
You’re very welcome, Anna! Thanks for not giving up — and for the kind words. (And good luck with the house. A little paint and some new cabinets and you’ll be just fine. Heh.)
Nation: that’s all you. You make a difference. And there’s a vocabulary game with your name on it…
8:45 AM update
$103,653 — a somewhat slow day yesterday, but Tax Day will do that. We’ll make it up. Due a refund? Pre-spend some of it here! Not due a refund? Relax yourself with some yoga.
And now, a word from Debby G., the proprietor of today’s featured Giving Page. Debby, tell the nice people what they can win:
Tomato Nation fans, how about celebrating our amazing success with a little trip to the garden? Any donation made to the “Growing A Victory Garden — For Our Nation’s Tiniest Tomatoes” Giving Page before midnight ET on Tuesday 4/19 has a chance to win one of two $25 gift cards to the Olive Garden. Thanks for all your support. Can you say, “BUON APPETITO”? See you in the garden!
There is an “endless bread bowl…of generosity” line here, but I can’t get to it. You should get to it, though; again, the Tiniest Tomatoes GP is right here.
Stay tuned for updates, and possible news of a match…
Tags: you can't spell "readers" without "rad"
Go to Element Content’s FB Page…they are doubling the contest by offering a Donors Choose Gift Card –
Double Contest! Share Debby Guardino’s giving page via this post- tag it using the @+ElementContent (Remove the +) so that we can see-to be entered in first for a DonorsChoose.org giving card worth $10.00- and each donation to Donation to Debby’s classroom project will be entered in to win a $25.00 gift card to Olive Garden. Entries must be in before midnight EST to win.
Some great projects Debby, just helped one get a little bit closer.
For our giving page today I have listed the 21 projects that have less than $100 to completion! http://tomatohelper.wordpress.com/2011/04/19/save-the-day-april-19/
Continuing the game we started some days ago, every project that is funded $10 will be donated to the leaderboard! Yesterday 5 more were completed which meant another $50 today! Please check them out, matching offers for many of them!
I love that a day when we take it up over $103,000 is considered slow.
FIRE! FIRE! GP – We have projects expiring in 2 days and more in the coming days. There are 13 projects that can be completed between $35-68. You can BE A HERO TO A CHILD! Please help!
A lot of the DC projects I’ve looked at are for “Horace Mann Co” schools. Can anyone out there tell me what that means? Are they charter schools?
Finally got my act in gear and finished up 3 projects in the Fire! GP. Felt great!
Adrian, Horace Mann Co is an insurance company that caters to teachers. They recently had a match offer for teachers at schools where their insurance is offered. As for charter schools, I was skeptical before I got a job at one. Yes there are some out there that aren’t all that great, but I’ve learned that most charter schools are run by good people. They provide a good alternative to regular public schools for a lot of students! Thank you for everything you are doing for students and teachers!
Sars, I’m having trouble on the TN Superpage – when I try to get to the projects beyond #50, it’s spitting me out to a list of the members of the giving page. I want to donate to a specific project that was submitted by a friend of mine, and I can’t get to it through the TN leaderboard because of this technological glitch. If I donate through another search, does my (paltry $11.25) still go to the TN totals, because it’s a TN project?
(Incidentally, Adrian, it’s a DC school, and it’s a math project – they need calculators, and while my housemates and I funded the teacher’s last supply emergency, we can’t handle this one on our own, so I suggested he kick it to the Nation and hope for the best.)
FIRE! FIRE! We just had a project get additional funding to bring it down on my radar screen. THERE IS THREE HOURS UNTIL IT EXPIRES!
“Literature Circle Using Sharon Flake Books”. PLEASE HELP!
@Anna – thanks. I don’t think I’m asking about a match, though. If you look at the ways you can filter projects, one is by type of school – Charter, Magnet, Year-Round, etc. There are also some specific “brands” (if that’s the right word?) of charter schools – KIPP and so forth – and I can tell they’re charter schools becuase there’s a little blurb for each one. But there’s no blurb for Horace Mann Co schools, so I was curious, and charter school was my best guess.
Or maybe you’re saying that any school where Horace Mann insurance is offered is a Horace Mann school? That… seems like an odd way to classify schools. But mabe it makes sense when you’re in that world – I’m not an educator, and there appear to be no such schools in my county.
They’re changing over to a new layout today, so you may want to give it a few hours before trying to donate — thanks for your patience!
If you’re not sure a donation got credited to TN or to another specific Giving Page, drop Zach an email: zach at donorschoose dot org.
@Scarlettb – have you tried accessing the project you are looking for through the sortable spreadsheet? You can sort by Giving Page or State and then click the link directly to the project.
Adrian, I’m pretty sure your second thought is right:) The Horace Mann designation showed up on my project requests right after they did the match offer. We’re an independent charter school, but I do know that Horace Mann offers insurance to our teachers. I hope this helps clear up the mystery! Thanks again!
Amanda’s handy dandy spreadsheet will get you directly to the project you want, even if it is past #50. http://tinyurl.com/3mvlb28
Reminder: Check accounts today for your monthly automatic donation credits, if you are signed up. They should be there :)
My automatic monthly donation just kicked in, and I sent it over to AnnD’s project (http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/proposal.html?id=476091&challengeid=159274). One hour left, and $140 to go.
Just donated via Debby’s giving page – I think. At least, I was on Debby’s giving page when I clicked “Give” next to the project! Hope it came through to TN’s credit. (It’s one for preschool math materials.) Three cheers for TN’s impressive efforts!
Aw man!! I promised myself I wouldn’t fund any more projects today because I’ve gone kind of crazy this week. But that letter from Anna the teacher just killed me. And off I went to buy Middle East maps made out of glass tiles.
Sniff. Bawl. Awesome.
FIRE! FIRE! We have five projects expiring in the next 5 days so please check the giving page and see if you can lend a hand! There are projects that can be funded for as little as $27! SAVE ME! More expiring soon!
@StillAnotherKate MANY THANKS for finishing off the Middle East Map Project! THANK YOU TO ALL WHO HELPED TODAY! HEROS one and all.
Tomato Nation fans I am pleased to announce the winners of today’s Olive Garden Gift Card Contest….Drum Roll Please – Grace Hoppin and Kathleen Quick are the winners of the $25 Olive Garden Gift Cards. I am still adding, but we topped $1,050 in donations today.I am so humbled by all the support and good wishes from donors. Since the campaigned started our page has generated 57 members $8,714 in donations and 6,817 students reached!!! Way to go TN Fans!!! I look forward to the next 12 days! Debby – Victory Garden Operator.
Anna, what a wonderful note! If anyone has some extra $$ here is Anna’s project on DC now. http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/proposal.html?id=491782&challengeid=155170