U.S. Cellular Urges Teachers to Register in "Calling All Teachers" Campaign

U.S. Cellular is continuing its commitment to schools with the return of its national Calling All Teachers campaign in which it provides $1 million to teachers for classroom projects.

During last year’s Calling All Teachers campaign, the company funded nearly 300 classroom projects in Wisconsin valued at $156,888, giving teachers some much-needed resources for their students. In Milwaukee County 56 projects at 31 schools were funded for a total of $28,626.

U.S. Cellular and its local associates, in partnership with DonorsChoose.org, are encouraging Wisconsin public school teachers to visit uscellular.com/callingallteachers now to register. Registration is open throughout the end of summer. In August, registered teachers can visit the site to submit classroom projects for potential funding. U.S. Cellular plans to fund selected projects in September and October.

DonorsChoose.org is a philanthropic Web site that helps public school teachers find money for classroom projects that exceed their limited budgets.

“Our associates live and work in these communities and we are excited to show our local teachers how much we appreciate them,” said Chris Rathsack, director of sales for U.S. Cellular in Wisconsin. “Children deserve the best and we believe helping teachers give them the best education possible is the right thing to do.”

“Teachers can request everything from textbooks to microscopes to art supplies,” said Charles Best, founder and CEO of DonorsChoose.org. “It’s important to give teachers the opportunity to have unique projects for their classrooms that help them provide creative ways for children to learn and be engaged.”

The pinch of budget cuts has compelled many teachers to supplement shortfalls by purchasing basic supplies like crayons, textbooks and calculators with personal resources. A 2010 national survey* said K-8 grade teachers spend hundreds of dollars of their own money every year to help teach our kids. The study also said 70 percent of teachers believe their schools are financially unable to provide necessary teaching tools.