Benson, NC (Grassroots Newswire) November 11, 2009 - The online education charity DonorsChoose.org is highlighting a project request for classroom materials submitted by Mrs. Youngblood, a 9th grade teacher at West

Johnston High School in Benson, NC. The project is titled "Special Education Class Needs A Camcorder" and it will provide special needs resources and experiences for 11 students to better prepare them for college and/or college-level work.

Mrs. Youngblood is among tens of thousands of teachers across the country who are turning to DonorsChoose.org to get the learning materials they and their students need.

"Too often, teachers lack critical resources in their classrooms - and in many instances they spend their own money trying to provide for their students," said Charles Best, founder and CEO, DonorsChoose.org. "Unfortunately, even hundreds of dollars out of pocket each year doesn't necessarily cover the costs of what's needed. That's where concerned citizens come in; anyone, regardless of means, can donate directly to project requests like Mrs. Youngblood's at DonorsChoose.org."

Donations go twice as far for many of the project requests posted at DonorsChoose.org, including Mrs. Youngblood's. DonorsChoose.org received a $4.1 million grant in 2008 from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support teachers who aim to promote college-readiness among students in high-need urban and rural public schools.

As Mrs. Youngblood wrote in the project, "My students need a digital camcorder to create podcasts/lessons. The students will learn a life skills lesson and then teach it to other students. The lesson could be on various topics, for example,students learn how to clean a load of laundry."

In addition to Mrs. Youngblood's project, there are currently 7 project requests in Benson posted at DonorsChoose.org and in need of funding. They can be found by using DonorsChoose.org's search tool at http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/search.html.

Individual donors can contribute any dollar amount to these and thousands of other projects nationwide at DonorsChoose.org. Once a project is completely funded, a team at DonorsChoose.org will purchase the requested

materials and send them to the teacher. All donors will receive photos of the project taking place, a thank-you letter from the teacher, and a cost report showing how each dollar was spent. Donors who give more than $100 will also receive hand-written thank-you letters from the students.

Any public school teacher can post a project request at DonorsChoose.org;

those projects aimed at college-readiness in high-need or rural high-schools may be eligible for the Double Your Impact match.

To view and donate to Mrs. Youngblood's project request, please visit:

http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/proposal.html?id=290765.