Each year KidSmart rallies support through a grassroots, corporate employee-driven, back-to-school movement to change the playing field for 45,000 deserving students in need. Supporters of this campaign believe that every child deserves a chance to have the learning tools and educational experiences they need to succeed in school and thus throughout life.

Push for Pencils takes place each year from August 1st to August 31st.

KidSmart asks that as the drive coordinator you help in the following areas:

• Attend the Push for Pencils Kick-off Breakfast on June 18th from 7:30am – 9:30am
• Coordinate the drive within your company
• Select dates for your drive
• Arrange for the supplies to be collected
• Arrange for the supplies to be sorted and tallied
• Arrange for the supplies to be delivered to KidSmart
• Promote the drive with your employees
• KidSmart provides 4 sample e-blasts and 1 sample newsletter article for your convenience
• Download promotional materials

KidSmart recommends you select one week to conduct your drive, however it may be as long as a month or as short as one day.

Pencils, paper, markers, crayons, and glue are the top five most needed school supplies, but many other basic school supplies are also always in demand.

All school supplies are delivered to the KidSmart Free Educational Supply Store and distributed for back-to-school and throughout the school year to the 45,000 children in need whom KidSmart serves.

KidSmart’s PUSH is for the basic school supplies such as paper, pencils, markers, crayons and glue which are the supplies needed most by the 45,000 children whom KidSmart serves. They are supplies that are consumable by nature and without them a child faces an obstacle nearly impossible to overcome.

Yes! KidSmart is proud of the fact that 93% of our donations support the KidSmart Free Store Program. 7% is invested for fundraising and administrative expenses. For every $1 donated, KidSmart is able to leverage that financial support and distribute $7 worth of free school supplies and educational resources to the 45,000 children we serve. That’s a powerful 7 time return on investment!

KidSmart relies on company employee volunteers to transport the supplies to our Free Educational Store. This is an additional volunteer and donation opportunity for someone within your organization. We are always appreciative of our logistical partners.

Again, KidSmart relies on kindness and support of our corporate employee volunteers to ensure that the supplies get delivered to our Free Educational Supply Store so that we may distribute them to our tens of thousands of kids in need.

Yes! You may create volunteer opportunities within your company drive: Supply sorters, counters, packers and delivery persons.

KidSmart offers corporate team building opportunities including volunteer opportunities at KidSmart to stock the shelves and help the teachers shop for the supplies their students need. Contact Scott Taylor at 314-291-6211 or email for more information.

KidSmart’s Community Partners have multiple retail locations throughout the St. Louis are and agree to the following:

• Promoted as a Push for Pencils Community Drop-off Location for the entire month of August
• Cross promote the drive with KidSmart through advertizing, internal and external promotions
• Employees volunteer their experience on August 1 to support the Push for Pencils Kick-Off
• Teams of Community Partner employee volunteers canvas their local retail neighborhoods to distribute Push for Pencils “Bag the Basics” bags
• Neighbors are encouraged to fill a bag with school supplies and return it to one of the participating neighborhood Push for Pencils Community Partner retail locations