The co-founder of a school supply company on Wednesday helped distribute pens, pencils and other educational goods to students at Hendley Elementary School in Southeast as part of his company’s mission to provide resources to underprivileged children.
Ido Leffler, co-founder and CEO of Yoobi, said his Los Angeles-based company loves “working with communities like this that have such a supportive mayor who really wants to make sure these kids have everything that they need.”
During Wednesday’s giveaway at Hendley Elementary, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and outgoing public schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson announced that Yoobi has donated 1,000 boxes of school supplies for students in kindergarten through fifth grade.
Ms. Bowser thanked the school supplier for its donation to D.C. Public Schools, where roughly 70 percent of students are eligible for the national school lunch program. The donation will provide supplies for 30,000 students in the nation’s capital.
“The fact that we were able to come here and, in one week, impact every child is magical for us,” Mr. Leffler said. “We look for communities that want to give more and more to their students, so it became a no-brainer for us to help this community.”
Founded in 2014, Yoobi employs a “one for you, one for me” model: Every time a customer purchases an item, the company donates the same item to a classroom in the U.S.
The company partners with the Kids in Need Foundation to distribute classroom packs from its 30 resource centers to underprivileged children.
In its two years of operation, Yoobi has collaborated with musicians Usher and Pharrell Williams to design supplies and donated more than 1.6 billion school supplies. Yoobi products also are sold in Target stores nationwide.
On average, teachers spend $485 out of pocket on schools supplies each year. D.C. Public Schools has tried to alleviate this burden by increasing school supply funding for the past five years and issuing $250 stipends for teachers.
Hendley Elementary is one of 11 schools in the District that has implemented a year-round academic calendar that adds 20 days to the school year, with short but frequent breaks.
“Every minute of classroom time is dedicated to learning, and this year, we’ve added more learning time to the school year,” Hendley Elementary Principal Sundai Riggins said in a press release. “This generous donation from Yoobi of even more school supplies for students and classrooms means that we can enhance the learning and experience of Hendley students.”
Last year, Yoobi worked with the Starlight Children’s Foundation to provide more than 200 hospital school programs with the supplies. Mr. Leffler said the goal is to provide free school supplies for 5 million students.
“We have a very simple mission and vision. We want to make sure that every kid in this country that needs school supplies gets it,” he said. “People understand that, and it resonates with them. Everybody knows a schoolteacher that’s gone out of their way to buy school supplies out of their own pocket.”
D.C. Public Schools partners with several local supporters and organizations each year to independently provide children with school supplies. Michelle Lerner, a press secretary for D.C. Public Schools, said students and teachers are thrilled.
“This donation is going to ensure all of our students in the District succeed,” Ms. Lerner said.
• Julia Porterfield can be reached at jporterfield@washingtontimes.com.
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