Teacher's Warehouse Provides Needed School Supplies

OKLAHOMA CITY -- When you reach for a pencil, or pair of scissors, you may always have them handy. But in the Oklahoma City Public School District, supplies are hard to come by.

There's a place called the Teacher's Warehouse that offers free school supplies to teachers in the Oklahoma City Public School District.

The Teacher's Warehouse is packed with supplies already bagged and ready for teachers to pick up.

"It really is a basic as having a backpack, having crayons, having a ruler, having a scientific calculator, enough paper in a classroom," Robyn Hilger, Teacher's Warehouse Program Director, said.

But those basic needs are not guaranteed in the Oklahoma City Public School District.

Teachers have always had to dig into their own pockets to fully stock the classroom. Kindergarten instructor Patricia Seitz says she's spent up to $1,000 on necessities.

"I've been teaching for 30 years and I have one child and she's grown, but I don't have anything extra either," Seitz said. "I still have a mortgage and a car payment, so the money doesn't go that far."

Access to the inventory of goods available at the Teacher's Warehouse has educators excited to go back to school prepared.

"When they started getting donations and telling us we could order them online, it's Christmas every month," Seitz said.

And every month, the warehouse is re-stocked.

"Ninty-eight-99 percent of teachers tell us their students have more of what they need to learn," Hilger said. "They spend more time teaching in the classroom and less time tracking down those supplies, and that they really feel supported and that the Oklahoma City community cares about them."

Donations are needed. Most the supplies come from businesses around the metro.