DonorsChoose Social Media Challenge

Inspired by ScienceBlogs, we will be competing in the DonorsChoose.org Social Media Challenge, a friendly month-long competition between blogs to see which can do the most to help low-income classrooms on DonorsChoose.org. In addition, our friend Sara works as a teacher in New York, and has funded a project through DonorsChoose. We chipped in a bit to that, and shipped her a box of Mardi Gras beads to give to her class.

By way of background, DonorsChoose.org is an online charity connecting individuals, like you, to classrooms in need. The average public school teacher spends $500 - $700 on classroom supplies out of his/her own pocket, and students still go without critical supplies they need to learn. This website provides an easy way for everyday people to address this problem. Public school teachers post project requests that range from a $100 classroom library, to a $600 digital projector, to a $1,000 trip to the zoo. People like you can choose which projects to fund and then get photos and thank-you letters from the classroom.

DonorsChoose is definately good people. The page I've put together currently lists all the urgent projects in Louisiana; I plan to select a few specific projects in a bit. I'm going to try to keep it to projects of interest to us (New Orleans, DC, Baltimore, Chicago, science, and public health), but feel free to also give to projects that aren't on our list (or request that I add them to our list). You can contribute to our Challenge here.