Thanks to All Who Participated in Donors Choose!

To all of you who participated in the ScienceBlogs Donors Choose Challenge this year - many, many, many heartfelt thanks! We raised $503 here at TSZ but together all the ScienceBloggers raised almost $31,000! That money will have an impact on at least 10,000 students!

All but one of the proposals I selected ended up getting funded, via your contributions and other sources. I've gotten some feedback from some of the teachers and thought you might like to hear what they have to say. I know your cash is hard-earned, and money is tight for everybody right now, so I am especially grateful to all who donated. I hope the words of these teachers will lend a special warmth to your heart and reinforce your sense of the worthiness and need of a project like Donors Choose.

If you didn't get a chance to participate during October but would still like to give...there's one more proposal on my list that needs funding, and has only 28 days left. You can still give to that proposal, and help those kids get their microscopes!

Now on to the teachers:

From Mrs. Schultz, whose proposal was "Snuggle Up With A Good Book!"

Thank you so very much for choosing to provide these items for our classroom! I am so eager to see the children's faces when they get to sit in their library, comfortably. They will be absolutely giddy. This will mean the world to them. It's not often they get anything new, let alone special. I am confident this will encourage them to work even harder on their reading skills. I would really like for you to know that YOU have made a difference in the lives of 21 wonderful children!

From Ms. Strohm, whose proposal was "What's That Smell!!!!"

Please accept my most sincere appreciation for your generosity in funding this project. You gift will enable my students to more fully participate in the learning process. In a time when education funding has been continually cut, it is wonderful to know that people truly care about the future of the lives of these really wonderful kids. Thank you so very much. The supplies you are providing my class with are very much needed and most definitely appreciated. These kids are going to be so excited!

and from Ms. Howell whose proposal was "Project Us Into The Future"

I am so thrilled to see that "Project us into the Future" has been funded. I have already been thinking of ways that I can now incorporate our new overhead projector into my lessons. I will now be able to help prepare the students for state testing by showing many examples and make my lessons more engaging for them. It is very nice to know that my students will now have an additional resource to use. Thank you so much for your help in getting my students the overhead. It is a small thing that means the world to our classroom. Thanks again for your support.

Yay! You all did great things for deserving teachers and kids! Thank you, thank you, thank you!