Austin Creative Reuse receives $66K to support mobile school supply shops

Nonprofit Austin Creative Reuse received a nearly $66,000 education grant last week to fund Materials Mobile. The mobile pop-up initiative will travel to school campuses and allow educators to shop new and gently used classroom supplies.

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Nonprofit Austin Creative Reuse was named a recipient last week of an education grant from Impact Austin, an Austin-based women's collective giving organization that gives back to Central Texas nonprofits.

The nearly $66,000 awarded grant will help fund ACR's Materials Mobile. The mobile pop-up initiative will travel to school campuses and allow educators to shop new and gently-used classroom supplies.

The mobile project is designed to support teachers and educational staff with access to gently used supplies while also preventing them from ending up in landfills, per a release.

Currently, Materials Mobile is expected to visit school campuses in August, prior to the start of the 2023-24 school year.

This latest news comes as ACR celebrated its two millionth pound of donated materials collected. The nonprofit has been accepting donations since its first materials collection drive in 2011, per the release.

Alongside its Materials Mobile pop-ups, supplies are available at ACR's physical location at 2005 Wheless Lane in Austin.

“School supplies belong in classrooms, not in the landfill. We are delighted to have received the Education Grant from Impact Austin," ACR Executive Director Jennifer Evans said in the release. "Their transformative investment will allow ACR to provide much-needed resources to hundreds of educators and thousands of students. A lack of classroom materials should never be a barrier to learning. Every student deserves access to high-quality supplies, and we know we can help make that happen.”