ORANGE PARK — During any school year, teachers spend an average of $600-$750 on classroom materials. To help ease that burden, the Clay Education Foundation founded Tools 4 Clay Schools to donate free supplies to teachers in Clay County District Schools. 

According to its website, the Clay Education Foundation is a direct-support nonprofit organization designed to strengthen public education in the county. 

“We open the store four times a year for teachers to ‘shop,’ and by that, I mean they pick up whatever they need for free," said Carolyn Krall, President of the Clay Education Foundation. 

The school drive lets teachers return to their classrooms with much-needed supplies. Some students in the school district go without adequate school supplies during the school year. The Tools 4 Clay Schools shop grants teachers the ability to bring paper, No. 2 pencils, crayons, scissors, paper towels, cleaning supplies and more back to their classrooms. 

“The teachers won’t have to dip into their pockets for their students to have the necessary supplies. On average, teachers save $105 every time they shop with us. We had 1,200 teachers come in and shop last year, and we gave out $138,000 in school supplies,” Krall said.

The leading shop is located at the Garber Automall in Green Cove Springs. A satellite store is at Keystone Heights Elementary in the gym, so teachers in Keystone don’t have to make the trek to Green Cove. The Tools 4 Clay Schools initiative has come a long way since starting as a portable in Orange Park Junior High, where retiring teachers would drop off their extra supplies. 

The shops are open during teacher planning days and pre-planning time — just in time for the school year. 

New teachers are invited first, starting at the end of July, and then there are a couple of days in August when all CCDS teachers are welcomed.

• Tools 4 Clay Schools is open at Garber on July 30 and 31 from 2 to 4 p.m. for new teachers.
• For teachers near Keystone Heights Elementary, it's open on Aug. 6 from 12:30-3:30 p.m. 
• For returning teachers, it's open at Garber on Aug. 7 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and again on Aug. 12 from 9 a.m. to noon. 

Garber donates space to the Foundation year-round and has proven to be an important partner, Krall said. 

“I think they like having teachers come in and shop. Not only do they support Tools 4 Clay Schools, but they’re also the title sponsor for the Apple Awards. They give the Teacher of the Year a brand-new car. They help us in a lot of ways,” Krall said.

The initiative depends on donations. One of the biggest ways the community can help is by participating in the inaugural Stuff the Bus supply drive this Friday. After achieving acclaim in Jacksonville, Stuff the Bus aims to replicate that success for the first time in Clay County. The community can donate school supplies at Stuff the Bus in front of the Staples Store at  2285 Kingsley Ave. in Orange Park on July 19 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

If you can’t make it to Stuff the Bus and you have school supplies you would like to donate, contact Carolyn Krall at ckrall@clayeducationfoundation.org.