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Some Detroit teachers picked up supplies for their students
For the second year in a row, the Ann Arbor chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma has carried out an act kindness that has touched Detroit Public Schools teachers through its program called "Teachers Helping Teachers."
In fact, it has brought joy, smiles and tears.
Delta Kappa Gamma, a professional honors society for women educators, collected teaching materials from 10 Ann Arbor elementary schools that teachers themselves had purchased with their own money but no longer needed.
Last week, the supplies were packed into a U-Haul and six cars and distributed to Detroit teachers at an event held at the Frederick Douglass Men's Academy.
“I’m a big recycler and re-user and I know how expensive it can be for teachers to acquire these materials through their schools,” said Pat Stejskal, a retired kindergarten teacher, who helped organize the collection drive. “When they aren’t receiving the extra money for these things, it seems almost unconscionable that people would throw them away without trying to find another home for them. It’s something that we can do where we are connecting with fellow teachers in a constructive fashion.”
"It's amazing how many things you can collect," she says."Microscopes and wonderful curriculum supplies, teaching books that teachers use to enhance their programs."
The retired teachers including Pat Stejskal (first on the left)
Cindy Caviani, a member of Delta Kappa Gamma and volunteer, has seen the benefits to the Detroit program.
“I think of one teacher who came by last year and was extremely interested in Egyptian history,” Caviani said. “She told us ‘I’m so interested in this and I want to pass this on to my students.’ Well, we had a whole table full of Egyptian things —books, stories, puzzles, an actual little toy mummy. I kept giving her these
things and we kept putting them into her car and she kept saying she couldn’t take anymore, but was so excited to share it all with her students.”
Stejskal says this year a special education teacher was in tears and said: “I can’t believe it, I can’t believe it, this is the most incredible thing that has happened to me as a teacher."
Stejskal says the organization is now planning for next year and hopes to get the word out to even more Detroit teachers.
For more information about the program, contact Stejskal at 734-662-6157 or visit DKG state website.
