In the spring of 2020, kitchen tables became classrooms. Backpacks sat untouched by the door. Across the country, more than 1.5 billion children — roughly 90% of the world's student population — were suddenly learning from home, and teachers were scrambling to reach them through screens, phone calls, and whatever lifelines they could find.
For students in high-poverty communities, the stakes were especially high. A missing notebook, an unreliable internet connection, or the absence of a single book could mean the difference between staying on track and falling irreparably behind.
"We know that when students in high-poverty communities cannot go to school, their home circumstances, and the resources available in their homes, will define their education. Coronavirus threatens to widen educational inequality in America."Charles Best, Co-Founder, DonorsChoose
A Mission Built for This Moment
DonorsChoose was uniquely prepared to meet the crisis. The organization's story began in 2000, when Charles Best, then a teacher at a Bronx public high school, wanted his students to read Little House on the Prairie. As he photocopied page after page from the single copy he could find, he thought about the countless teachers spending their own money on books and supplies — and the countless people who might help if only they could see exactly where their dollars went.
Charles sketched out a simple idea: a website where teachers could post classroom project requests, and donors could pick the ones that moved them. His colleagues posted the first eleven projects. Two decades later, DonorsChoose has helped more than 500,000 public school teachers bring essential resources to their students, shipping supplies directly to classrooms in every corner of America.
That direct-to-teacher model — trusted, transparent, and already operating at national scale — is precisely what made DonorsChoose the right organization to respond when classrooms went dark.
Keep Kids Learning
Launched on March 18, 2020, the Keep Kids Learning initiative reimagined the DonorsChoose model for a world without school buildings. Donations flowed to teachers in schools serving low-income communities, who then selected the exact materials their students needed at home — workbooks, art supplies, science kits, books, and the small but essential tools that keep curiosity alive.
The response was extraordinary. In a matter of weeks, more than 12,500 individual donors, foundations, and corporate partners — including the J.W. Couch Foundation — joined the effort. Over 10,000 teachers were equipped to send critical supplies directly to students' doorsteps, and more than $11 million was mobilized to reach the children who needed it most.
Impact at the Kitchen Table
The stories that came back from teachers and families told the real measure of the program. A package arriving in the mail. A student who had been disconnected from class suddenly opening a new book. A parent finally able to support their child's learning with the right materials in hand. In a season defined by uncertainty, these small deliveries carried something larger: the message that someone, somewhere, believed in these students and was not willing to let them fall behind.
Looking Forward
The challenges of 2020 revealed how fragile educational equity can be — and how powerfully a nimble, teacher-led organization can respond. DonorsChoose proved that with the right model and the right partners, no student has to be invisible, even when the school doors are closed. The J.W. Couch Foundation is proud to stand alongside DonorsChoose, and we remain committed to a future where every child, in every community, has what they need to learn, grow, and thrive.
