English teacher Tracy Wuertenberg’s tables allow students to learn collaboratively but not without distraction. The tables are worn, some wobble and aren’t in the best shape. After talking to Katie Greer, Wuertenberg went onto Donorschoose.org. On March 9, she had found out that her request for new tables had been funded. Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter and native St. Louisan, funded Wuertenberg’s request as well as 500 other classrooms in Missouri.

“I went online to look at my account because I had gotten an email that said, ‘Tomorrow’s going to be the greatest day ever,” from DonorsChoose, so it reminded me that I should go look to see if it had been funded,” Wuertenberg said. “And when I went on, it said, ‘Your project has been fully funded,’ and I thought, ‘This must be a lie.’”

Donorschoose.org is a way for teachers to get funding for supplies their district or administration can’t afford. It’s like a go fund me for teachers, and anyone in the U.S. can donate to any of the requests. To put in a request, teachers must write an essay explaining why they need the supplies they’re asking for and talking about their students as well as answering questions about their school, classroom and what they need.

“There’s just not the money in our budget to purchase everything that teachers need,” Greer said. “We have to prioritize our things. A lot of times, with purchasing the desks and things like that, that needs to go through the District Office, and if we spend a certain amount of money, it has to be approved by the Board for us to spend that. Especially where our District is at right now with the tax levy not passing, we’re really having to watch where we spend money.”

Wuertenberg has been trying to get new tables to replace the ones currently in her room which will be coming in soon.

“It’s a huge blessing that this happened, and I’m just so thankful,” Wuertenberg said.