Reporting Trip: CHaRM and Teacher Reuse
To learn more about the Center for Hard to Recycle Materials after my interview with former employee Benjamin Hasty Kirk, I visited the CHaRM itself. Abigail West, coordinator of the Teacher Reuse Store located within the CHaRM, walked me through the loud warehouse. I ended up sticking around the Teacher Reuse Store, a branch of the facility that takes in school supplies and items that could be potentially used by creative teachers for classroom projects, all with no charge. For having only three employees, only one considered full-time, the CHaRM was bustling on a Wednesday afternoon with customers pulling in to dump mostly plastic bags, but the occasional fabric sample book or vintage iMac.
“I learn a lot from talking to teachers,” West said while combing through some old fabric. She started her job at ACC Solid Waste during the COVID-19 pandemic, and while basic operations at the CHaRM haven’t changed much since they reopened in April after lockdown, West has noticed the role the Teacher Reuse Store now plays in providing teachers and students with remote learning tools.
“Their needs have been ever-evolving during the pandemic as they’ve had to pivot between virtual and in-person,” said West, and her Teacher Reuse Store was there when a teacher needed three computer monitors for students who didn’t have access at home to do online work. Working in partnership with other reuse companies around town, like Free IT Athens, has helped Teacher Reuse provide surrounding counties’ teachers with free computers when Teacher Reuse is lacking them due to high demand for remote learning.
West says whiteboards, office chairs and small desks for teaching from home are also in high demand. The Teacher Reuse Store’s abundance of binders was even eaten into at the beginning of the school year last August by proactive teachers constructing and sending projects home to their students.
“I’ve had a couple teachers tell me, this has been such a stressful year, and now you’ve lightened that stress a little bit,” said West. Taking financial and environmental stress off of the community has always been a strength at CHaRM, and the pandemic has only highlighted their ability to provide help to Athens’ essential workers.
The Teacher Reuse Store is hoping to open up to counties other than those listed on their website when it seems safer, says West. They are also short-staffed and seeking volunteers, information for which can be found on the website.
