Disney hosts back-to-school event to benefit teachers, students

Thousands of students across Orange County struggle to afford lunch, let alone school supplies, limiting their ability to learn and achieve. 

Enter A Gift For Teaching, a Central Florida nonprofit organization with the mission to provide educational resources that empower teachers to inspire future leaders and a vision of a future where every student has the tools and experiences to succeed.

A Gift For Teaching was started by community philanthropist Gary Landwirth, whose concept was beautifully simple: improve public education by providing free resources and surplus materials to teachers for their students in need.

Today, the nonprofit provides an average of $70,000 worth of supplies daily to teachers and their students in Orange and Osceola county public schools, and more than $169 million in school essentials have been distributed since 1998.

Walt Disney World has been a founding sponsor for A Gift For Teaching since 1989. 

As part of Disney’s Summer of Sharing, cast members, Disney leaders and Disney VoluntEARS, A Gift For Teaching representatives, and Disney College Program participants gathered to help sort and count thousands of school supplies donated during the organization’s annual Back-To-School Supply Drive supporting A Gift For Teaching.

Around 200 volunteers gathered in three separate three-hour shifts for the event Thursday, Aug. 29, at Disney’s Boardwalk Resort.

NO MAN LEFT BEHIND

Although the event previously was held at A Gift For Teaching’s location, this year marked the first time Disney hosted the sorting and counting event on-site. 

The larger space allowed the items to be collected in one place and for a large number of cast members to help out at one time.

The enterprise-wide collection of school supplies began July 1 and ran through Aug. 23. Cast member donations were even matched by Disney. 

This year, collection items of top priority included No. 2 pencils, notebooks, two-pocket folders, loose leaf paper, and dry erase markers and erasers.

Volunteers split up into three groups to perform tasks: boxers, sorters and runners. 

Attendees also had the opportunity to write thank you letters to teachers, and the event included a special surprise visit from Mickey Mouse. 

Angela Garcia, vice president of development and marketing for A Gift For Teaching, said Disney has been an incredible partner since the very beginning of the organization’s journey. 

“The number of volunteers keeps growing every year, and we are so appreciative of that,” she said. “It’s truly inspiring to see students taking action to help other students in this community. We would not be in existence without the community’s support. Seeing these companies and individuals coming together to tell the ones who are struggling, ‘Hey, we are here, and we want to back you and support you, makes all the difference. It’s remarkable what we've been able to do here.”

Last year alone, Disney cast members completed more than 260,000 volunteer hours in Central Florida. At this event, about 600 volunteer hours were completed. 

Next year, Disney hopes to collect even more school supplies and host the event at a larger space so more people can participate. 

Nelson Placa, senior manager of corporate social responsibility at Disney, said he is very proud to have been working for the company for 20 years. 

“Our cast members live in this community, so it’s perfect for us as a company to be able to give back to support our shared community,” he said. “We are serving more than 80,000 cast members who reside in our home here. We hold lots of events throughout the year to help out where we can, but this event specifically services our teachers and students who are in need. Hopefully, this event also will encourage other companies to get involved and partner with this organization. It also is a great setting for our cast members to bond and learn about the importance of giving back.”

Now, Disney is gearing up for its Season of Giving, with events such as a toys drive in partnership with Toys for Tots.