MARANA, Ariz. (KGUN) — Teachers in Southern Arizona can stock their classrooms with donated and repurposed supplies at little to no cost through a Marana nonprofit.
Treasures 4 Teachers of Tucson (T4TT), located at 6800 N. Camino Martin, Suite 124, sorts and distributes donated books, posters, learning tools and art supplies to Southern Arizona teachers.
Ayla Patton, a fourth grade teacher in the Marana Unified School District, says she built her classroom through the nonprofit.
"I started like my entire classroom with everything I bought from here," Patton said. "75% of my class is from here."
Patton tells me she typically spends up to $300 on her classroom, but shopping at the T4TT warehouse has allowed her to stretch that budget.
"My entire library is from here, any organizational supplies that I need, student supplies, it's all come from here just because this is such a great cost-effective resource for teachers," said Patton.
Without the nonprofit, she says her costs would be a lot higher.
"Probably triple of what it is. The books alone is a huge cost effective resource here compared to buying brand new books at a store," Patton said.
Adrienne Ledford, executive director of Treasures 4 Teachers of Tucson, says the nonprofit can help provide what school budgets often can't.
"The schools will supply books and curriculum, but they come in here to get the weird things like zip ties, and we have wood, and we have toilet paper rolls, and egg cartons," Ledford said. "That's what saves them money instead of them going to Home Depot and going to Walmart."
The nonprofit depends on donations from schools, businesses and community members. With several schools closing in the area, T4TT stepped in to rescue thousands of books and supplies.
"The amount of stuff that the schools would have thrown away was amazing and we were able to save it and bring it in here," Ledford said.
Ledford tells me the organization is also working to better serve preschool teachers by expanding its hours.
"So we have started doing a program one night a month. We open till 8 o'clock so that the preschool teachers can get in here. We buddy up with Head Start and a lot of the community practices that are around. And Peeps is another one through United Way that have all preschool, nothing but preschool teachers, and we contact them and they bring them in," Ledford said.
As teachers prepare for a new school year, T4TT is in need of donations. Ledford says pencil pouches and dry erase markers are among the most needed items, along with rubber bands.
The nonprofit also recently reached a milestone after years of operating in the heat.
"For 12 years we have suffered in the heat, and it's been 85 and 90 degrees in here. Teachers have suffered. They've been troopers and wonderful just coming and coming every year and just saying, oh, it's so hot in here. We finally got a couple of donations, and we got air conditioning. So it is now 70 degrees in here, but we sure could use a little bit more donations on that to finish paying it off," Ledford said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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Jacqueline Aguilar is a multimedia journalist at KGUN 9. Born and raised in Yuma, AZ., she is no stranger to the unforgiving Arizona heat. Now this U of A wildcat is excited to be back in Tucson and is looking forward to involving herself in the community. Share your story ideas with Jacqueline by emailing jacqueline.aguilar@kgun9.com or connecting on Facebook, Instagram or X.
