From Jasmine:

Last month, I hand-delivered 24 books covering four classrooms at Vivian Conatser-Turner Early Learning Center. After a successful first delivery, Lucy helped me find another school in Alabama to hand-deliver supplies to: Francis Marion School in Marion, Alabama.

Once the principal of Francis Marion School reached out to us, Lucy helped order the expo markers and pencil boxes that I would hand-deliver. On Sunday, March 10, the Expo markers were delivered to me. Then, the pencil boxes were delivered to me on Monday, March 11. In the box, there were 24 pencil boxes of various colors: yellow, pink, and blue.

Through a few emails, we found a date and time that worked for both me and Mrs. Davis. We settled on Tuesday, March 12 around 2:30 pm. Since I had a half day because of the school ACT, it ended up being the most reasonable day to go and deliver supplies without missing school.

On Tuesday afternoon, my sister and I drove one hour and 30 minutes down to Francis Marion School. As my sister and I entered Francis Marion School, we were greeted by an inviting Mrs. Davis. There were many friendly waves and smiles from students and teachers too. As we walked around the school, we noticed the range of students. There were students from pre-K to 12th grade. Mrs. Davis informed me that there were a bit over 400 students at Francis Marion School. She told me that the books were going to the first-grade classrooms.

The first-grade classrooms were in a separate building near the main building. Inside, I was greeted by first-grade teacher, Mrs. Essex. As I walked through the hallway, many of the students were in the hallways waving and talking. Seeing the kids that would be using the supplies made it feel more special. We brought the supplies to a classroom and unboxed them together. After snapping a quick picture and having a good conversation with Mrs. Essex, she told me that more school supplies would be greatly appreciated in the future. Many of the students lack binders with tabs and notebooks to write in. With that being considered, I am planning another donation to Francis Marion School shortly.

Through my second donation, I have experienced feelings of contentment and joy. Being able to make an impact by hand-delivering supplies to students makes my heart full. The experience is always so surreal. Additionally, getting to reach out to a great group of educators like Mrs. Davis and Mrs. Essex made it even more memorable.