Muncie store’s free supplies used to help teachers, class

MUNCIE, Ind. – It’s called the Back to School Teachers Store, but one vital piece of equipment for retail sales is missing.

“We don’t have cash registers,” said Jackie Johnston, who helped open the store.
That’s because what the store stocks – which is every conceivable supply needed for school classrooms – isn’t for sale.

It’s free.

Johnston was with Kroger when the first free teachers’ store in the state opened in Indianapolis.

“And we’re the second,” Johnston said, discussing what motivated her to start it. “I just knew we needed it in Delaware County for our teachers.”

There are now 38 similar stores across the country, many of which are associated with food banks, both for their warehouse space and their tax-exempt status.
That idea didn’t appeal to Johnston, though.

“I didn’t want the teachers to shop in a food bank setting and maybe see the parents and the children they had in class,” she explained. “We could put all this out in cardboard boxes and let them dig through it, but we wanted it to be attractive.”

Johnston founded the store in April 2006 in a former supermarket provided by then-owner Marsh Supermarkets. When Marsh was sold, and that building along with it, a former drug store was donated to the group in 2008.

With a ground floor of 9,000 square feet and a basement of 2,500 square feet, there’s room for lots and lots of that “stuff.”

“People bring donations to the back door,” Johnston said, noting the store accepts gifts of cash and new or gently used items, and right now is looking for kitchen cabinets for the facility itself.

“We cover seven school corporations. So, virtually, we let everybody shop. We really want to move (donated items) out and get it to the classrooms, where it benefits the kids,” Johnston said.

That’s an important point. The whole purpose of the store – which is open Tuesdays,
Wednesdays and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. – is to benefit kids who can’t otherwise afford such supplies; it’s simply done through their teachers.

Teacher Amy Everhart from Wapahani High School has found free binders and other items for her students.

“It’s great. We love it,” she said of the store. “That stuff gets pricey when you’ve got seven different classes with seven different requirements ... I hate to see a kid go without.”

Teachers like Everhart and the children they care about make Johnston happy to help.
“The need’s great, and the teachers really appreciate it,” she said, citing a survey showing the average teacher spends $200 to $800 of their own each year to buy supplies for their kids.

She has seen the gratitude in their eyes.

“Sometimes teachers will be in tears when they leave here,” she said. “It’s an emotional experience.”