Community and Education

A Day Made Better

Scenes just like the actual occurrence described above were repeated 999 more times that day, as part of OfficeMax’s partnership with Adopt-A-Classroom, entitled A Day Made Better.

During A Day Made Better, OfficeMax associates surprised 1,000 teachers at 1,000 schools across the United States with in-class ceremonies and nearly $1,200 worth of donated school supplies for each of their schools, as well an executive leather chair for the chosen teachers. As the largest single philanthropic effort in our company’s history, the retail value of the donated merchandise exceeded $1,000,000.

The purpose of the A Day Made Better campaign was to help eliminate "teacher-funded" classrooms. Due to budget shortfalls, teachers now spend nearly $4 billion annually out of their own pockets (an average of $1,200 per teacher) for basic classroom supplies, according to the National Education Association.

Adopt-A-Classroom selected the schools, a majority of them classified as schools-in-need under Title I of the U.S. Elementary and Secondary Education Act. In Title I schools, 40 percent or more of the student body are subsidized with free or reduced-fee lunch programs.