RALEIGH — As thousands of Wake County teachers begin preparing their classrooms for the new school year, WakeEd Partnership joined Wake County Public Schools Superintendent Robert Taylor, Wake County Board of Education Chair Tyler Swanson and Staples General Manager Yomary Wilder this week to officially launch the 2026 Tools4Schools Community Supply Drive.

The kickoff event, held at the Staples store on Wake Forest Road in Raleigh, marked the beginning of the seven-week community-wide campaign to collect school supplies for Tools4Schools, WakeEd's free classroom supply store for WCPS educators. Staples is once again partnering with WakeEd by serving as a public collection site at all Wake County store locations throughout the campaign.

Since opening in 2022, Tools4Schools has provided more than $2 million worth of classroom supplies to over 6,700 teachers from every Wake County public school, helping educators save money while ensuring students have the supplies they need to learn and succeed. By August, every donated notebook, backpack, marker and box of pencils collected during the campaign will be available free of charge to Wake County teachers preparing their classrooms for students' return.

"Teachers will always do everything they can to make sure their students have what they need to learn. Tools4Schools helps make sure they don't have to do it alone,” said Keith Poston, WakeEd Partnership president.

The 2026 campaign runs through Aug. 21 and encourages individuals, businesses, civic organizations, faith communities, neighborhoods and schools to donate supplies, host collection drives or make financial contributions.

Last year, thousands of community members, businesses and civic organizations contributed school supplies that stocked the shelves of Tools4Schools throughout the school year. WakeEd hopes to build on that momentum by expanding community participation during this year's campaign.

“This campaign isn't just about collecting school supplies, it's about making sure every Wake County classroom has the tools teachers need to help every student succeed. Every donation our community makes during this campaign will soon find its way into a classroom.”

Ways to Support Wake County Teachers

* Donate new school supplies at any Wake County Staples location, participating YMCA branch or other public collection site listed at wakeed.org/supply-drive.

* Host a workplace, neighborhood or community supply drive.

* Make a financial contribution to support bulk purchases of teachers' most requested classroom supplies.

* Purchase items directly from the Tools4Schools Amazon Wish List.

The complete list of donation locations, the Supply Drive Toolkit, classroom wish list and online giving opportunities are available at wakeed.org/supply-drive.

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