Alerus Mortgage has donated $17,000 to AdoptAClassroom.org’s Twin Cities First-Year Teacher Fund!
The generous donation will help rookie teachers across the Twin Cities purchase much needed classroom supplies for the 2016/2017 school year. First-year teachers who register their classroom on AdoptAClassroom.org by February 1, 2017 will receive an equal portion of the funds to purchase supplies.
“I’m very proud that the donated funds were raised through our Alerus Mortgage employee-giving match program,” said Jan Fitzer, president of Alerus Mortgage. “We know that teachers contribute to healthy communities today and in the future. That’s important to all of us.”
Teachers play a big role in building healthy communities, but they’re using their own money to do it. About two-thirds of all U.S. school supplies are purchased by teachers, spending an average of nearly $600 a year in the process. Nationally, this totals more than $1.5 billion each year. The average starting salary for a Minnesota teacher is $34,505, so stocking a classroom is no small feat for a Twin Cities teacher encumbered with student loan debt fresh out of college.
“Teachers shouldn’t have to begin their careers spending large sums of their own money on classroom supplies, but that’s the reality they’re facing,” said Ann Ness, executive director of AdoptAClassroom.org. “Alerus Mortgage’s support will help alleviate some of the financial burden placed on first-year teachers and ultimately benefit thousands of students.”
AdoptAClassroom.org launched the Twin Cities’ First-Year Teacher Fund pilot program in 2014, successfully distributing $200 to each new Minnesota teacher who registered their classroom by the deadline. If this is your first year teaching, make sure to sign-up before February 1, 2017 to qualify for some of Alerus Mortgage’s big donation.
Thank you Alerus Mortgage for helping us support our great first-year teachers across the Twin Cities!
Want to help first-year teachers? Support AdoptAClassroom.org and the first-year teachers we support here.
Do you know any first-year teachers in the Twin Cities? Tell them to register their classroom to receive funds!