Thousands of dollars in arts supplies donated to Pajaro Valley teachers

Christmas came early this year for teachers with the Pajaro Valley Union School District. Equipped with bags and boxes,20 educators were invited Saturday morning to shop and stock up on supplies for their classrooms – thanks to donations from the community.

“We started with very little budget and no programs to back us up. With this first year it’s wonderful to have this much support from the community,” said performing arts teacher Jessica Derooy.

Derooy is one of20 performing arts teachers hired as a result of Governor Jerry Brown’s Local Control Funding Formula. But after the Pajaro Valley School District hired more teachers, officials said they quickly realized they didn’t have enough money for supplies – so teachers had to get creative.

“I’ve used a lot of coffee cans and different kinds of just found instruments. We’ve played the playground, we’ve played our desk and we’ve played everything we can,” said Derooy.

That’s when the Pajaro Valley Arts Council stepped in to help. Volunteers went to local businesses, vendors, and residents asking for art and music supplies. Organizer Kim Tyler said she never expected this much support.

“We had no idea it would turn into something of this magnitude, in just this short2 1/2weeks since we started asking,” said Tyler.

Tyler said it took one large moving truck and four vehicles just to transport all the donations to Amesti Elementary School in Watsonville – and into the hands of grateful teachers.

“I got a package of recorders here and so it’s really exciting to have real instruments for the students to play,” said Derooy.

On Saturday morning, teachers got some much needed supplies, volunteers got the satisfaction that comes from making a difference and a local school district got a much needed boost for arts education.