SCRANTON, Pa. — Lackawanna College recently unveiled a space to help teachers and students get the supplies they need with the ROCKET Project. Since 2010, the project has distributed nearly 5,000 backpacks filled with school supplies to local elementary schools.
Now, the project can collect items and distribute them out of this space inside Healey Hall on North Washington Avenue in Scranton.
"We have staff that help; we have students that help. We do hope to get some business students running the closet for us so they could get some hands-on experience in keeping inventory and stuff like that," said Theresa Scopelliti.
The project now has a major upgrade – a website. Christine Byrd is the CEO of Machi-Systems, the Scranton-based web development company that built it, giving teachers a quick and easy way to shop online for items from the ROCKET Project closet.
"Go to the website, and there's a button that says, 'request access,' and then you go in there and you fill out the form and send it in, and then you'll be contacted with a way to log in and then you'll get access that way," said Byrd.
Lackawanna College worked with the Scranton School District on this project, but it's not only teachers in the district who have access to the supplies.
"It's really important for the college to be involved with the community. So anything we could do to make it easier for teachers in the area, students, to have access to tools they need to be successful in the classroom, we really want to be part of that," said Nick Costanzo.
"What I would like to see happen is as we give out the supplies, we have enough money and enough donations to replenish everything, and then also get more supplies depending upon what the schools need," said Scopelliti.
If you're a teacher or non-profit interested in receiving supplies, visit the ROCKET project website here.
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