HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — For more than two decades, Rhonda Washington has dedicated her career to helping students overcome challenges and reach their full potential. As the school counselor at Sylvan R. Rodriguez Elementary School, she says there’s nothing more rewarding than seeing a child finally understand something they’ve been struggling with.<\/p>\n
“When that light bulb comes on for my students, I feel a sense of joy and pride,” Washington said.<\/p>\n
She also knows that students need the right tools to learn.<\/p>\n
“All teachers provide school supplies for their students,” Washington said. “We spend hundreds of dollars, and people don’t realize that we are going out buying paper, pencils, and crayons.”<\/p>\n
This is why Washington appreciates the Houston Food Bank’s school supply program, which gives classrooms the materials they need. The program helps teachers worry less about supplies and spend more time helping students learn.<\/p>\n
“This program matters because it demonstrates how the community can have a positive impact on our students’ success,” Washington said.<\/p>\n
ABC13 Loves Teachers There are two easy ways for the community to join our efforts right now. You can text ABC13Teachers to 71777. Or you can make a donation online<\/a>.<\/p>\n Then join us on July 31 for our all-day community drive, where you can stop by any of the sites below to drop off new school supply donations.<\/p>\n Houston<\/p>\n Houston Food Bank535 Portwall St., Houston, TX 77029Drop-off hours: 6 a.m. – 6 p.m.<\/p>\n Houston\/Montrose area\u00a0<\/p>\n The Ismaili Center\u00a0\u00a02323 Allen Parkway, Houston, TX 77019\u00a0Drop-off hours:\u00a09 a.m. – 1 p.m.\u00a0<\/p>\n Galveston\u00a0<\/p>\n Galveston ISD Support Center\u00a03904 Avenue T, Galveston, TX 77550\u00a0Drop-off hours: 8 a.m. – 12 p.m.\u00a0<\/p>\n Richmond\/Rosenberg\u00a0<\/p>\n VFW Hall – Post\u00a039031903 1st St., Rosenberg, TX 77471\u00a0Drop-off hours: 8 a.m. – 2 p.m.\u00a0<\/p>\n Sugar Land\u00a0<\/p>\n Ismaili Jamatkhana\u00a0– Sugar Land1700 First Colony Boulevard, Sugar Land, TX 77479\u00a0Hours: 9 a.m. – 1 p.m.How does the Houston Food Bank help teachers and families specifically?<\/p>\n This year, school supplies from the Teachers Aid program (now part of Backpack Buddy<\/a>) are being delivered directly to campuses enrolled in Houston Food Bank’s Backpack Buddy program all year long.<\/p>\n For Teachers: If you are at a participating Backpack Buddy school, your campus leadership will coordinate supply distribution directly on site; no applications or travel required.<\/p>\n For Families: While the Houston Food Bank does not distribute school supplies directly to individuals or families, their goal is to lift the financial burden on households in other ways. If your family needs assistance with food or seasonal resources, please visit\u00a0houstonfoodbank.org\/findhelp<\/a>\u00a0or call the helpline at 832-369-9390 to connect with a nearby partner pantry. Copyright \u00a9 2026 KTRK-TV. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — For more than two decades, Rhonda Washington has dedicated her career to helping students…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":387858,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[136702,56,58,57],"class_list":["post-387857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-136702","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387857","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=387857"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387857\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/387858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=387857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=387857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=387857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Join us for the ABC13 Loves Teachers School Supply Drive<\/a> happening Friday, July 31, 2026. Now in its third year, the event benefits the Houston Food Bank’s School Programs, with all money raised and supplies collected staying local and going toward area teachers.<\/p>\n
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