Make a Difference Month

Every year, the company I work for sponsors "Make a Difference Month." This is a time for us to give back to the community a little. This year's project was at the World Vision's Storehouse in Washington, DC. Our morning project was to help sort school supplies on to pallets.

Here's a little information about The Storehouse in Washington, D.C. It serves every public school in the city as well as private schools. Last year it provided school supplies to teachers, counselors, and therapists who put them into the hands of over 79,000 students.

Thanks to corporate donors, The Storehouse is able to keep its shelves stocked with valuable teaching tools and supplies that help even the playing field for students who struggle against poverty. Donors provide top-quality overstock and surplus products, which are distributed to schools in which at least 70 percent of students qualify for a subsidized meal program.

Local volunteers provide the necessary labor to keep the shelves stocked and inventory organized and easy to find for educators. Students from Marva Boatman’s Mamie D. Lee special education school also visit the center regularly through a community-based work program. Her students––ages 12 to 15––learn basic job skills by helping to keep the shelves well stocked and orderly.