Remote schooling surge spurs parents to make desks for kids in need

Remote schooling surge spurs parents to make desks for kids in need

Americans across the country have built, donated, and collected desks for students.

As remote schooling surged during the pandemic, parents across the country realized that many kids didn’t have desks at home.

Written content by the Assocoated Press via Fox News

So they got busy building, collecting and donating them, giving hundreds or thousands of students workspaces to call their own and helping them get through long days of virtual learning.

For Mitch Couch in the Central California town of Lemoore, inspiration struck when his 16-year-old daughter and 9-year-old son kept taking over the kitchen table for their remote lessons. He made desks for them, and thought: Why not provide other people’s children with individual learning areas they could decorate with stickers and paint?

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In this photo provided by Jessica Berrellez, volunteers build desks in Gaithersburg, Md. Berrellez and her husband, with the help of some 60 community volunteers, have built and donated over 100 desks to students and families in need. (Jessica Berrellez via AP)

The desks he made were kid-size, simple and inexpensive, fashioned from plywood with a hutch for workbooks and papers. But they did the trick.

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In this photo provided by Jessica Berrellez, her husband, Al Berrellez, left, and daughter Bella Berrellez, right, drop off free desks for Karla Mendez on Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2020, in Gaithersburg, Md. (Jessica Berrellez via AP)

“I was like, you know what, I built these desks for like $20,” Couch said. “Maybe I can show other people how to do it. So I made a quick YouTube video” to guide fellow parents in Desk-Making 101.

A grocery store saw it online and offered to provide materials if he would build more. Managers contacted local school officials to help identify those in need. From the initial batch of a couple dozen, plans quickly ramped up to build at least 50 more, and on a recent day he was sawing and sanding with a driveway full of more than a dozen desks

A single sheet of plywood, 4 feet by 8 feet, yields four desks. By now Couch is so practiced, he can knock one out in just about 15 minutes.

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In this photo provided by Jessica Berrellez, student Jordan Dominguez Garcia attends a virtual class using his new desk, which was donated by the community, Thursday, Oct. 8, 2020, in Gaithersburg, Md. (Jessica Berrellez via AP)

Neighbors stopped by to shake his hand. He’s gotten thank-you messages and pictures from parents who said their kids were “doing better and focusing more because they have their own space now.” Read more from Fox News.

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