In late November, Book Bears had the privilege of talking to Ivy Lesser, a speech therapist, special education teacher, and the most welcoming educator we’ve had the pleasure of meeting. Her job in the classroom requires passion, patience, and kindness as she works with verbal and non-verbal students. Her classroom is entirely virtual due to the pandemic, requiring even more creativity.
Any educator can tell you that this year’s transition to virtual learning has been a significant challenge, but Ivy is currently focusing on something else. She is looking to financially support her student’s families for the holidays, make her story-times more engaging over Zoom, and continuously puts her students’ needs above her own.
What is #clearthelist?
Ivy is participating in a cause called #clearthelist, which was started to help teachers pay for school supplies that they place on their Amazon wish-list.
“I chose to participate in #clearthelist because it allows teachers to customize their list,” Ivy explained in the interview. “Every teacher has different needs.”
This holiday season, Book Bears’ mission is to financially support Ivy’s classroom through our Holiday Raffle. Every donation to our GoFundMe (https://www.gofundme.com/f/gyw5g-clear-the-list) pays for a little bit more of what Ms. Lesser needs, and for every $5 increment of a donation, every donor receives one raffle ticket, which are automatically entered to win one of our prizes! The raffle is open from December 1st to January 8th, and the winners will be announced on January 16th.
Every donation will go towards funding as many items on Ms. Lesser’s list as possible. Many of the supplies used in Ms. Lesser’s teachings, such as books and tablets, have come from her own pocket. With #clearthelist, we have the opportunity to provide students with better resources than ever before.
As the season of gift-giving approaches, the top of Ms. Lesser’s list consists of gift cards. She told our team, “I would love to give my students’ families little gifts for the holiday season because many of them are having trouble during these times.” Project #clearthelist is an incredible opportunity to aid those who don’t have resources we may take for granted every day. For me personally, it was truly inspiring to see Ms. Lesser’s generosity and love for her students, which was all the more reason to help her and her classroom as much as possible.
We here at Book Bears are beyond excited to be able to make a difference in the lives of people even across the country. With a quick donation of a morning’s coffee money, anyone can aid in the worthy cause of the #clearthelist project and be entered into our holiday raffle! What better way to spread love and contribute to Book Bears’ mission this holiday season?
