‘You can’t take the classroom out of the teacher’
HAYS COUNTY — A beloved nonprofit organization that gives back to teachers could be heading out of Hays County if it doesn’t find a new location soon.
Founded in 2022 by Shelly O’Donnell, The Teacher Reuse is centered around lessening the economic burden on teachers by providing them with supplies and materials, as many spend out-ofpocket money every year to stock their classrooms.
“Our teachers are underpaid and if they are spending $750 to $1,000 out of pocket every year and if we can give them $750 to $1,000 of supplies, we have just given teachers a raise,” said O’Donnell, a retired teacher of 25 years.
The Teacher Reuse celebrated its grand opening on Nov. 12, 2022, at 3700 Kohler’s Crossing. Less than two weeks later, the organization had to say goodbye to the building and lost its lease within 48 hours due to the lack of funding.
“We need someone that will allow us rent-free until we can get on our feet,” O’Donnell said.
O’Donnell has received an outpouring of community support. “I get three to six donations every single day,” she said. “I got off the phone with Lockhart ISD and they are willing to come to our storage unit and snag as much as possible to take back to them. They have professional development [coming up] and they are going to have up to 100 teachers. They were like, ‘Well, what do you have?’ and I said, ‘What do you need?’” With no luck in finding a place for The Teacher Reuse to call home in Kyle or Buda, O’Donnell was forced to look closer to Austin.
But she is confident that if they do relocate out of the county, teachers will commute to save money on supplies.
“We’ve had 27 school districts come to Buda,” O’Donnell spoke of the beginning of The Teacher Reuse, which was originally located at Hays CISD.
“We are going to lose some of the San Marcos/ Bastrop and pick up Leander/Cedar Park. We are going to get some different clientele, but
we are still going to have teachers who are willing to save $500 worth of supplies in one day.”
For more information about the organization or to learn how to donate to the cause, visit www. theteacherreuse.org/.
