My sister is a special education teacher at a low income school in Orange County. She currently teaches a 1st through 3rd grade class for children with Autism. It’s a hellacious job, and one that she loves very very much. Anyone who talks with her for more than 5 minutes can see how much she loves her kids and her job, even when she’s had a bad day. She’s been punched, grabbed, pushed, scratched, kicked, bitten, had hair ripped out, chairs & toys thrown at her, and she still goes back with a smile on her face.

I used to say I didn’t know anyone who loves their job as much as I love mine. All that changed when Jen started teaching. Now I have to say I’ve never met anyone who loves their job as much as she loves hers. And she’s phenomenal at it. She’s only in her second year of teaching, and was already given an award for being an outstanding teacher, not just in her district, but in the multiple districts in the Greater Anaheim area. When one of the other teachers in her program left last year, Jen took on the responsibility of overseeing the other class, in addition to teaching her own. She was essentially teaching two classes, for the salary of one. And though she was stressed out, she hardly complained. When general education teachers have behavioral problems in their classes that they can’t handle, they come see Jen for help. She’s amazing, and I couldn’t possibly be more proud of her.

There’s nothing she wouldn’t do for those children including spending thousands of her own dollars to help supply her classroom with the toys and activities that her students need to learn. The school provides them with the necessities, but nothing close to what they actually need. She stumbled on this program that helps provide funding for activities in different classrooms. It’s a way for people to donate money to a very specific project or classroom, as opposed to making a general donation and hoping the money goes to the right people. DonorsChoose.org is a national program, and not something specific to Orange County. Any teacher can participate, and donors can search by subject, state, school district, school, or by any keyword. I won’t regurgitate all of the information about the program, as it can be found on the site. I will, however, put in a plug for my sister’s project, and ask you all to at least take a look at it. If you have the money to donate to Jen’s class, great! If you prefer to donate to a classroom or teacher closer to you, great! If you just want to take a look or pass the information along to a teacher who could use it, that’s great too! There’s no pressure here. It’s a great program, and I just want to help get the word out.