Brick Girl Scout's Donation Drive Aims To Fill Teachers' Supply Bins

BRICK, NJ — Every fall when school starts, children all set up with supplies for the new school year: pencils, dry-erase markers and notebooks. Kleenex for runny noses and hand sanitizer to try to leave the germs at school.

Their teachers try to stock up, too, because they know that while the kids start out with all their shiny new items, it won’t be long before they’ve forgotten their marker or broken their pencils or run out of sanitizer.

“Teachers spend a minimum of $500 per school year to support their classrooms,” said Rylee Sherwood of Brick, who will be a seventh grader in the fall at Lake Riviera Middle School.

Rylee thinks that needs to change.

“In any other job, you don’t have to put out money to do your job,” she said, and she’s trying to help address that by creating a school supplies collection for teachers in the Brick Township Schools. It's called "Fill The Classrooms," and includes a distribution event in August.

Fill The Classrooms is Rylee’s service project for her Silver Award in Girl Scouts. The project involves creating something sustainable that makes an impact in the community. It requires 50 hours of work, said her mother, Sara, who’s also Rylee’s troop leader.

“It’s a huge undertaking,” Sara said, adding that she tried to steer Rylee to other projects.

“I grew up in Belmar, where we went to the same school for kindergarten through eighth grade,” Sara said. “When we moved to Brick it was stunning how many schools there are.” The district has two high schools, two middle schools. six elementary schools and two preschools.

Rylee had conducted a survey trying to find out some of the community needs, Sara said, but none of the projects really captured her attention. Then she heard about a book drive to help teachers stock their classroom libraries, and said “That’s it, that’s what I want to do.”

“I tried to suggest others but she said, ‘Mom, I want to do this one,’ ” Sara said.

Rylee started researching it in late April and has to complete the project by the end of September. In addition to the supply collection, there will be a day in late August where teachers from the Brick Schools will be able to pick up supplies. The third phase of the project will be talking with the parent-teacher organizations at the district’s schools to turn it into a sustained effort in the years to come.

“I’m hoping that PTAs and PTOs can adopt this plan,” Rylee said. They have been sharing her flyer about the supply drive, Sara said.

Rylee has spearheaded collection efforts in the past, including at Thanksgiving, where 60 complete meals were gathered, and a Christmas tree drive for families sheltered through Dottie’s House, a shelter for victims of domestic violence.

Often women fleeing domestic violence will leave with their children and little more than the clothing on their backs, and Dottie’s House helps to outfit families with the items they need to start over.

In addition to Scouts, Rylee plays basketball in the winter and competes in rowing. She loves to cook and make art, as well as riding her bicycle and playing the drums.

But most of all, she likes to help people. Rylee is “one of those people who helps all the time without being asked,” Sara said, noting that Rylee doesn’t hesitate to help her parents with her youngest sibling, who’s 2½ years old.

She’s hopeful others will be willing to help teachers who are trying to fill in the supply gaps for the children in their classrooms.

“If everyone came together and looked at what our teachers do for our schools and donated, it would really help them,” she said.

The donation drive begins July 1 and runs through July 31. Donations can be dropped off at Brick Township's Town Hall, 401 Chambers Bridge Road; Mike's Pizzeria, 319 Drum Point Road; the Brick Township Chamber of Commerce, 270 Chambers Bridge Road (at Civic Plaza), or at Hazelet Realty, 503 Brick Blvd., Suite 125.

Rylee is seeking the following:

New/unused: Glue sticks, pencils, crayons, markers, pens, dry-erase markers, Clorox wipes, tissues, notebooks, folders and small prizes.

Gently used: Reading books, storage bins, classroom decor, sensory toys, games and recess toys.

Questions can be sent to her at gsjsrylee@gmail.com. She also has an Amazon wishlist set up; scan the QR code below: