Two local women have been spending a lot of time this month readying for back-to-school, but not buying items for their family or themselves.
Keyla Rodriguez and Janine Santiago, both 26, have launched Pop-Up Classroom, which is an effort to raise money to buy and collect school supplies at locations around the city for use by teachers in Lawrence.
Throughout the month of August, Rodriguez, a paraprofessional at the Parthum Middle School, and Santiago, director of school-age programs at the downtown YMCA, are accepting donations. So far, they have exceeded their online fund-raising goal of $1,000, having collected $1,400. Their new goal is $2,000.
They placed bins around the city which have been filling up with binders, pencils, notebooks, erasers and more.
The pop-up shop will actually take place Sept. 5 and 6 at the Lawrence Public Library auditorium, when the well-meaning duo will put out all of the supplies they've either gathered or purchased. Teachers are invited to pick up the materials they need.
The idea, they both said, is to keep teachers from having to spend their own money on basic supplies that many of the students entering local schools either can't afford or simply don't have.
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