2Empower1

In My Own Words

I brought my new son home from the hospital on my birthday almost 13 years ago. He has been more than the most wonderful gift I could've hoped for that day, and every day since. Both of my parents were teachers, and on my mother's side almost everyone found their calling in education. My son has consistently made me proud with his successes in school and by helping teachers from his former elementary school on a weekly basis before he attends school on his late start days. What makes me most proud of him doing this is that he decided to do it on his own. Pet peeves- I think my biggest pet peeve is finding that their are businesses out there with surplus supplies on hand that just collect dust LITERALLY but refuse to donate these supplies to the schools that need them most. I am a former employee of a company who would go onto client sites to manager their supply procurement programs. I worked for over 10 years in the industry, and the more I would notice things and ask questions, the more it would fall on deaf ears. One issue that gets me excited is that my change in direction has given me the idea of how to help really reform how we get additional money to each and every school in our nation by simply looking at the purchases we have to make every year for our school-aged children anyway. If we collectively purchased these items, we can control our individual costs, hand over a percentage of the dollars made back to each participating school based on their own participation, enjoy the benefits private institutions enjoy today, and help reduce the need for state funding for the new technologies and educational materials we need. By deciding that we are not at the mercy of random retail store pricing, and the "shopping season" that has become like "tax season" just before school starts, we can make a change for the better. I would like to help organize this, and with the knowledge I have acquired from being in this industry, I am confident I can make it happen starting in the 2009 school year.

Parents I'd Like to Meet

I'd like to meet all parents interested in helping me form a collective effort to reduce the overall cost of school supplies while giving back a percentage of the dollars they will spend back to the school(s) their children attend. I truly believe parents of school-aged children can come together and provide more funding without having to look very far. It's right under our noses! I'm interested in meeting parents who received or will receive a list of school supplies they will need to purchase before the beginning of the school year.