ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Shopping for school supplies can be expensive.

According to the local nonprofit A Gift For Teaching, 70% of schools in Orange and Osceola County lack basic supplies like paper and pencils. However, through donations and hard-working volunteers, they are looking to change that.

Terry Ault is one of those volunteers. She knows the true value of a pencil.

“Pencils tend to frequently walk out of the classroom,” said Ault.

After retiring from a 40-year teaching career, Ault is helping get pencils to those who need them most as a volunteer at A Gift For Teaching, Central Florida’s primary provider of free school supplies for teachers.

“I like being helpful,” said Ault. “That’s just always me. Give me something to do, tell me to do something. Let me help.”

Ault welcomes nearly 4,000 teachers who come to their store in Orange County to shop for free school supplies.

“I make sure they are ready to go, and tell them to have a good time!” said Ault.

Ault helps makes sure the shelves stay stocked with anything they could need for them and their students. 

As a former math teacher, she knows many kids will come to class empty-handed.

“Students learn best when they have the proper tools, and a lot of students in Orange County can’t afford it,” she said. “For us to be able to supply and give those things to the teachers, to be able to give to their students, is probably one of the greatest things we can do for a teacher.”

Ault shared she used to spend up to $1,000 of her own money on her classroom supplies. It’s a problem the nonprofit has been helping tackle for the last 25 years.

“A Gift for Teaching, in the past, for nearly 26 years, we have now distributed over $175 million worth of free school supplies,” said Ken Probst, a manager at A Gift For Teaching. “And we simply wouldn’t be able to handle the volume of donations and the volume of supplies being shopped through our store without the help of volunteers.”

It’s the feeling of giving back that has kept Ault volunteering for the last eight years.

“I know how much it means to a teacher and if you ever saw the faces of teachers who come in here for the first time to see what is available to them it is near and dear to my heart, it makes a big, big impression and to be able to say its free — it’s all for you,” said Ault.

Something she plans to do for the rest of her life, keeping her connected to the profession she loves.

“’Till I can’t physically do it anymore, yes absolutely,” said Ault.

She hopes to teach others how important it is too.  

“Volunteering here gives me a purpose, makes me happy,” said Ault. “Makes me feel like I am still part of the community, and I still have something to contribute.”

For information on what teachers qualify for, visit https://www.agiftforteaching.org/eligibility/. To find out how to donate supplies or volunteer, visit https://www.agiftforteaching.org/get-involved/.