As Arizona teachers continue to spend hundreds of dollars out of pocket to stock their classrooms, Treasures 4 Teachers is working to ease that burden by providing affordable and free supplies.
Educators spent an average of $864 of their own money on classroom materials during the 2024-2025 school year, according to a survey by AdoptAClassroom.org — more than four times the median $200 supply budget provided by schools nationwide.
What began 20 years ago with one woman, a garage and a few companies’ surplus supplies has now grown into a statewide operation benefiting thousands of teachers every year.
Through its resource center and T4T On Wheels program, Treasures 4 Teachers distributes donated and repurposed classroom supplies to Arizona’s educators at steeply discounted prices — or for free.
The organization’s mission is multi-tiered, aiming to empower students, enrich educators, and eliminate waste.
“For us, it’s all about the creative experience in the classroom, but also having the tools to actually participate in learning,” said Joy Klein, Treasures 4 Teachers executive director.
“So, it’s self-confidence, it’s knowing ‘I have what I need and I’m ready to learn.’ That preparation right then and there for them, I think, is the key.”
At the Treasures 4 Teachers Resource Center in Tempe, educators can find everything for their classrooms from basic stationery supplies to books, furniture and creative materials. On top of being a one-stop shop, it’s all sold at a steep discount.
A box of pencils, for example, can be purchased for 75 cents at the T4T Resource Center, compared to $1.50 at Walmart.
At the resource center, shoppers will also find a Free Zone and a $5 Fill a Bucket section. In the Free Zone, shoppers will find materials for projects and organization, such as toilet paper rolls, tissue boxes, binders and posters.
In the Fill-a-Bucket zone, shoppers will find items such as craft supplies, books and basic office supplies. For $5, shoppers fill a 3-gallon bucket with as many eligible items as they can.
An added benefit for teachers is the availability of materials year-round.
“A lot of those school supply aisles are huge in the summer, and then they go away. We’re here all year round, so that’s what I think our teachers appreciate the most,” Klein said.
“Maybe I can’t compete with those deals when Target is selling a crayon box for 25 cents, but that’s for literally a month that they have those available, and then they’re gone,” Klein said.
To shop at the T4T Resource Center, educators and community members will need an active membership or a day pass. Educator memberships are $35 per year, community memberships are $45 per year, or a day pass is $10 per day.
Each membership or pass includes access to the $5 Fill-A-Bucket and Free Zones, free weekly giveaways, and 10% off at Treasure Box Thrift – the organization’s nonprofit thrift store.
Educator memberships extend beyond traditional classroom teachers to include homeschool educators, preschool and early childhood teachers, Parent Teacher Association leaders, before- and after-school programs, and youth-serving nonprofits such as the Boys & Girls Club and YMCA.
Aware of the fact that many teachers are unable to make it to the resource center, the organization offers T4T On Wheels. Through its mobile program, Treasures 4 Teachers visits schools to distribute free supplies and connect educators with available resources.
Interested educators can visit the Treasures 4 Teachers website to request a visit from T4T On Wheels.
To help fund its programs, Treasures 4 Teachers operates Treasure Box Thrift, a nonprofit thrift store open to the public. Proceeds from the store help keep the organization’s resource center and mobile program stocked year-round.
A large part of Treasures 4 Teachers’ work promotes reuse and sustainability, such as the toilet paper rolls and tissue boxes available in the resource center’s Free Zone, or the plastic organization bins donated by a retired teacher that otherwise might have gone to a landfill.
Educators and Treasures 4 Teachers staff gave old violins a second life at a T4T creative reuse event.
(Treasures 4 Teachers/Submitted)
The nonprofit recently hosted events where participants transformed old violins into canvases, vinyl records into bowls, and old circuit boards into earrings, necklaces, and holiday ornaments.
Furthering its reuse initiative, next door to Treasure Box Thrift and the resource center is Treasures 4 Teachers’ new partnership with AZStRUT — Students Recycling Used Technology. AZStRUT accepts donations of old technology and refurbishes them to be sold at a discounted price.
Although Treasures 4 Teachers keeps very limited technology in its thrift store and resource center, Klein notes this is a positive partnership, and said she often directs people to their retail space next door.
“So someone could drop off old laptops and things like that with (AZStRUT) and then drop off craft items that they no longer need with us,” Klein said. “So, it’s kind of a nice little one-stop right now at our location.”
To inspire educators in their repurposing, Treasures 4 Teachers maintains a Pinterest page full of classroom crafts and activities.
On average, teachers shop for their classrooms three to four times per calendar year, or about once per season, Klein said. Common purchases include basic supplies such as pencils, crayons, dry-erase markers and reams of paper.
Klein said paper budgets are the most drastically cut supply category at many schools, which has led teachers to frequently restock paper throughout the year.
She noted that especially in younger grades, paper is essential for writing practice and fine motor skill development, making it a recurring need that teachers often must replace multiple times a year.
Beyond basic supplies, teachers often pay out of pocket for items the public might not expect, including filing cabinets and hands-on learning materials such as simple motors or small beakers for STEM lessons.
Klein said May is the organization’s busiest month, as teachers leave the profession or change grades or classrooms, making it one of the best times for educators to shop.
When teachers can stock their classrooms with the materials, they need without stretching their own budgets, the effects ripple beyond classroom shelves. Students gain self-confidence and feel ready to learn when their classrooms are stocked with the materials they need, Klein explained.
“It’s like trying to play a sport when you don’t have the ball,” Klein said. “I can’t play imaginary football if I don’t have an actual football or basketball or baseball. And so that’s the way we look at school supplies.”
She noted that even if households are given lists of supplies to bring for their students, not all families can fulfill them. “So, then we know the teacher’s the one who always fills in the gaps,” Klein said. “Because they want that student to feel like they have the tools to learn.”
With Treasures 4 Teachers’ discounted supplies, teachers can fill those gaps in their classrooms without creating gaps in their wallets. Access to these resources supports both student learning and teachers’ mental, emotional and financial well-being, Klein emphasized.
Teaching is already mentally and emotionally demanding and having to spend their own money on classroom materials on top of that can stretch teachers thin.
By providing affordable supplies, Treasures 4 Teachers helps teachers keep a little more money for themselves, easing the financial burden and giving them the flexibility to invest in their own well-being and personal needs, while staying focused on their classrooms.
“Our teachers are givers,” Klein said. “They are immensely focused on how they can give. So, for me, if I can save them some dollars, I’m hoping they can reinvest that back into their health and well-being, or the families that they are currently living with, and even just their future.”
“Something as simple as just being able to have that flexibility in their own spending, I think, makes a big difference.”
Members of the public can donate to both the Treasures 4 Teachers Resource Center and Treasure Box Thrift at the organization’s Tempe location. Local businesses are encouraged to donate excess supplies rather than discard them.