Beaver Ridge Teacher Gets Surprise Donation

Tracy Pelinsky was told she was going to a county meeting this morning. She made her way to the lunchroom around 9:30 a.m. only to find a scene that was more like Christmas than a meeting.

Jose DeJesus, Principal at , revealed that the actual reason for the meeting was to give one teacher a bounty of supplies for his or her classroom, provided by the Flowery Branch Office Max. She even more shocked when her name was called as the selected teacher.

“I sat in the new office chair and was whisked onto the stage,” remembered Ms. Pelinsky after the cafeteria had cleared out and all that remained on stage were large boxes with a printer, digital camera, photo paper and much more in it. “I felt like I was on a game show.”

The best part is, her class was definitely in on it, holding signs like "Bravo, Ms. Pelinsky" and "Words to describe Ms. Pelinsky: Wonderful! Fantastic! Great!" 

The donation was part of a nationwide program hosted by Office Max, which has two components. The participating stores collect donations from the community, which they give to the entire school population. Beaver Ridge recieved lots of crayons, paper and notebooks from this batch of donated items. Also, the store donates $1,000 worth of items to give to one lucky teacher, who is selected at random.  One thousand teachers around the nation were chosen for the surprise today.

The Office Max in Flowery Branch sponsored this particular donation because it was the closest qualified school that registered for the contest. Store manager Susan Adams was on hand to do the hand-off. 

Principal DeJesus said he had fun making the announcement—and that it goes to show that registering for contests like this for your school is really worth the effort. 

Pelinsky, who teaches 4^th grade, said she will definitely put the supplies to good use. Currently, does take pictures in the classroom, but she has to get them printed off-site. Now, she’ll be able to do it all right there in class, she said.

She was also excited about the calculator and printer. A lot of the supplies she received are things that they don’t ask parents to give, she said, so they are a great supplement to her classroom.