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Editor's Blog

A great way to help ailing schools There are large and small ways you can help schools get through the budget crisis. By Susan BelknappPublished: August, 2010

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If you haven’t had a chance to read OC Family’s October cover story, I really hope you find the time. We went to great lengths to give a clear-eyed, but not pessimistic view of the circumstances our schools are facing in the coming year. You can also read some Superintendent Habermehl’s comments in our story about the latest STAR testing results here and watch my interview with the superintendent below the article. In the August cover story we give tips about how parents can help, but many in the community have wondered what they can do too. If you want to help, I encourage you to seek out a fantastic organization called donorschoose.org. The thing that is unique about DonorsChoose is that, as a charity, it is so incredibly tangible. When you donate (and as little as $25 can make a noticeable difference), you get to pick the project that you want to fund. You can search by community and find a school in your own neighborhood or you can search by programs that hold a special interest for you – visual or performing arts, sports, special education, you name it. Here’s how it works: Teacher submit a funding request for a project they want to bring to their students. Many are arts, music and creative education projects that often need special materials or equipment. But some are as basic as pencils and paper. I saw someone tweet the other day that they saw a teacher’s plea for food money because her students were coming to school hungry. Yes, it is that bad out there. The other thing that is so gratifying with DonorsChoose is that you have immediate feedback. You see the amount needed tick down as soon as your pledge goes through (and the vast majority of projects I’ve seen are less than $400, so you can see that your donation makes an impact on the bottom line immediately). You will receive a thank you note from the teacher very soon afterward and often you will get photos of the children participating in the activity once it is funded. You can also check back on the status of your project regularly to see how close it is to its funding goal. If a group works together, projects can often be funded in a day. Celebrities such as Stephen Colbert and Adam Lambert have rallied their fan groups to donate and raised significant amounts of money. The other integral part of donorschoose.org is that you can see how a concerted effort can make a world of difference for our schools, teachers and students. I highly encourage you to check out this amazing organization. You can also create a giving page for your organization that will spotlight special projects, then share those with your Facebook and Twitter friends or family, friends or e-mail contacts. Follow me on twitter: @susebelk Email me: sbelknapp@churmmedia.com PREVIOUS POSTS 8-4-10 Ruminations from flat on my back 7-20-10 Passion 6-30-10 All-Star Eats 6-23-10 Gotta sing? 6-16-10 Garden Grove’s Hyatt Regency Orange County 6-2-10 Shining Students 6-9-10 Working Moms 5-24-10 Camp Fire centennial 5-17-10 What do you want to be? 5-10-10 Happy Mother's Day 4-30-10 Brazilian Blowout 4-21-10 A thing of beauty 4-8-10 All-Star Fan Fest 3-24-10 Power of story 3-17-10 Baby beat 3-2-10 O.C. Camp Fair 2-25-10 Prevailing value of EVERY mom 2-19-10 I interrupt this blog ... 2-15-10 Shining Students nominations 2-10-10 Anaheim Ducks take flight 2-5-10 'It Takes a Village' Redux 2-1-10 A new day

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