PUSD Education Foundation donated $65,000 worth of arts and crafts supplies to benefit district classes

By Nanci Hutson
Originally Published: October 4, 2024
The Daily Courier

Prescott Unified School District Education Foundation leaders were thrilled this summer when they became the benefactors to what believed to be the second-largest donation in its decade-long history to help support teachers and students across the district.

Through the generosity of the Stilo estate, facilitated by John and Barbie Stilo and John Stilo Jr., PUSD classroom teachers will now have access to $65,000 worth of arts-and- crafts supplies, most of them brand new and suited to “inspire creativity and enhance learning experiences for students across the district,” said foundation Executive Director Paul Kirchgraber.

In a bit of serendipity, Kirchgraber said the donation timeframe coincides with a planned, 400-square-foot expansion of the foundation’s Teacher Closet housed in a portable located in the north parking lot of Prescott High School. The portable is shared with the district’s Family Resource Center.

The Teacher’s Closet, an all-donation supplied and funded project adopted by the foundation several years ago, enables teachers to gather, no-cost needed classroom supplies each month. The ability to provide, and replenish, individual classroom supplies is popular not only with teachers but donors eager to invest in direct support to students in the classroom. The closet provides everything from pencils, notebooks and sticky notes to laminating machines, small white boards, graphing calculators and reams of copying paper. At the Teacher’s Closet, the two founders, both retired PUSD elementary teachers, Jane Robertson and Carol Yetman, are often awed by the generous donations they receive from area college students, business offices and individuals who want to make a tangible difference in the schools. The Teacher’s Closet is often able to answer even special requests of items that an individual teacher could not afford, but one of their regular volunteer suppliers has to donate or is willing to buy.

The Stilo’s art supply cache will now provide teachers access to additional specialty items that might otherwise go unpurchased given the expense of such items, Kirchgraber said. Offering these arts and crafts supplies in the Teacher’s Closet space will also prove a convenience for teachers who can shop for both in the same place and at the same time, Kirchgraber said. Foundation and district leaders, including volunteers with The Teacher’s Closet, recently organized a caravan to collect the garage full of totes that contained the supplies the Stilo family was eager to get to where they could be best utilized, Kirchgraber said.

“We are deeply grateful for the generosity of the Stilo family,” Kirchgraber said in a news release about the gift. “This donation will have a lasting impact on our classrooms, giving teachers the tools they need to foster creativity and hands-on learning. The timing couldn’t be better as we continue to expand and improve the resources available to our educators.”

By Nanci Hutson – The Daily Courier
Originally Published: October 4th, 2024