Kristin Grubb is calling for change – and school supplies.
The Manager of Operations for the Office of the Provost recently participated in an educational leadership project with Tanner G. Duckrey Elementary school.
“I was saddened by how many students did not have supplies,” Grubb said. “The teachers would ask the students to take out a piece of paper and a pencil. I was shocked by how many did not have it.”
After seeing a need for supplies, Grubb decided to run a drive for school supply donations throughout Temple’s campus. Alongside Grubb is the College of Liberal Arts Alumni Association and its new president, Director of Administration Dawn Ramos from the School of Media and Communication.
“I am sincerely grateful,” Grubb said. “I never organized a drive before, but I know from what is in my office that it’s successful and that folks care and want to connect with the community.”
Ramos said she hopes students will produce an influx of donations as they arrive for the semester.
“Hopefully students know what they need by the end of the first week of the semester and drop off the extras in the boxes,” Ramos said. “The students coming back is the reason why we are running the drive through Aug. 29.”
Ramos and Grubb have come up with many different ways to get the students attention and motivation to donate supplies as the new academic year begins. Some of these methods include social media, with the hashtag #CLAschooldrive to be entered in drawings for Temple giveaways or, Ramos’ favorite, taking pictures with the already donated supplies.
“They can take a selfie,” Ramos said, chuckling. “I think it would be cute.”
The two have also implemented advertisements around Main Campus in locations like Saxbys and the 7-Eleven on Liacouras Walk. The ads include directions on when and how to donate and how to enter the contests on social media. They also let students and faculty know of the current drop-off locations: the 12th floor of Anderson Hall and the Academic Advising Center.
Plans for future drives to reach out to other schools in Philadelphia are in the works.
“We are planning to run another [drive] in the spring,” Grubb said. “It will give enough teachers time to realize what they need in the classroom.”
For the drive they are planning for this spring, Grubb and Ramos hope to launch a website that allows teachers from schools to be able to request items they need for their classrooms.
“It could be anything,” Grubb said. “It could be books, calculators – any items needed for that class. It helps us focus on what we need to get instead of just all general supplies that might not be needed.”
While they are focused on collecting supplies at the moment, Grubb and Ramos’ say they are more focused on making the lives of the people in the surrounding community better.
“The greater goal is to just help our neighborhood and community in any way that we can,” Grubb said. “School supplies is just one attempt to do so.”
Ramos and Grubb intend to deliver all of the school supplies from Sept. 2-6 to ensure timeliness for the start of school on Sept. 8.
“We appreciate all the support we received so far,” Grubb said. “There is still time to donate.”
Karlina Jones can be reached at karlina.jones@temple.edu
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