PHOENIX — "Hello, Emerson teachers," said a voice over the loudspeaker at Emerson Elementary School. "Please join me at this time outside of the media center and don't be late!"
It's the kind of announcement from the school principal that would make any teacher a little nervous - but any bit of fear was about to turn into pure excitement for teachers at Emerson Elementary School in Phoenix.
What these teachers hadn't yet learned was that this room full of supplies - pencils, markers, whiteboards, and more - was all for them. And the best part was they were totally free, thanks to the Courtesy Automotive Group. For the second year in a row, the company donated supplies to teachers all across the Valley.
"We love teachers," explained Jay Schmidtke, the general manager of Courtesy Chevrolet. "Teachers are teaching our next generation, so we need to give to them."
"I got my purse, I got glue, glue sticks, colored pencils," explained kindergarten teacher Amari Brown, who was showing off her swag that day.
"I think it makes a huge difference," she explained. "I'm totally someone that if the kids need something, I'm just going to buy it. I'm not going to wait around to try to have it donated or something."
It's a gift that keeps giving - even beyond these teachers.
"Especially in kindergarten, I have so many kids that don't have supplies at home that people don't think about, so being able to give them stuff to take home people don't think about it's really nice as well."
Perhaps the best gift of all for Ms. Brown is just knowing the community she serves has her back.
"It feels great. Teaching is such a huge job and it takes a lot out of us so I love to see people support teachers and believe in public education so it's really exciting," said Ms. Brown.
Courtesy Automotive Group says they are donating needed supplies for more than 1,600 students this school year that teachers would have otherwise paid out of pocket for.
In addition to Emerson, they've also surprised teachers at Wilson Elementary in Mesa and Madison Elementary in Mesa. They will surprise a fourth school in the East Valley later on.