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:: H i s t o r y - o f - t h e - P r o g r a m ::

“4 My Students, Inc” ,a not-for-profit corporation is noteworthy at many different levels.
The inspiration of a mere 17 year old,Lara M. Bueso , the company’s noble goal is to supplement the public sector support of elementary school education by using private sector resources more effectively. The company accepts donations from corporations and individuals and issues a tax -deductible form, all the while recycling products that would otherwise have little or no value. “A bookcase filled with books, along with crayons, construction paper and even tissues” is Lara’s goal for every elementary school classroom. Used stationary, such as that which becomes worthless when a company changes address, adds a partner, changes its phone number or anything else is an example of what they accept as donations and redistribute to elementary school teachers so that they do not have to pay out of their own pocket for copy paper.
Lara realized early on that the elementary schools that would suffer most from County policy to tighten their belts would be those that had scant resources to begin with, and that these schools probably could not ask the parents of attending students for much assistance. Thus she began a crusade that culminated in obtaining the 501 (C) ( 3 ) IRS designation, and at the same time, was able to successfully forge partnerships with the likes of Gifts N’ Kind International and Office Depot. Jesús Capó of El Dorado Furniture was fascinated with her idea and offered to become a major sponsor.

They currently house the “4 My Students, Inc.” store at their airport location. Through Gifts N’ Kind, Office Depot, Junior Orange Bowl, Skags Office Products and many other corporations, “4 My Students, Inc.” receives everything from Kleenex to post-it notes; from pens and pencils to computers. El Dorado Furniture , ever the good corporate citizen, donated space for the formation of a storefront so that teachers can “shop” for their needs.
El Dorado is also furnishing classrooms with bookcases from their scratch and dent inventory and their trucks will pick up large volume donations. Dan Hitchcock of Palmetto Hardware in South Miami donated the paint for the project. South Florida Federal Credit Union provided the “4 My Students, Inc.” account. Volunteer art student, Aaron Detrinidad from Miami-Killian Senior High is painting the in-store mural for the project. The initial group of volunteer students from Coral Reef Senior High School , where Lara is a senior at the International Baccalaureate Academy, is made up of Katie Vila, Daniel Constain, Devin Bustin, Chris Bennett, Stefanie Langley, Syed Ali, Paula Mejia, Emeliana Rodriguez, Andrew Quintero, and Orlando Boffill . They have been stocking the “store” and building shelving. Lara recruits and manages many other volunteers and maintains their hours for community service.
Service organizations at the school are currently busy finding elementary age books, dictionaries, and encyclopedias for the classrooms. These students are also fundraising by selling candy to offset the high cost of general insurance. The focus of the effort is currently Region VI, and primarily the elementary schools in the Homestead areas. Lara Bueso, the Founder and President stated,

“ We are going to address the needs of one region at a time. The needs of the elementary schools in Miami-Dade County are so vast that we could easily lose our focus and dilute our donations by tackling the entire County all at once. Our goal is to be able to draw upon more and more on a wider base of contributors, so that we can serve the entire system well. But we must grow into this by encouraging others to contribute. We want to target all the retailers and corporations that may have promotional items, broken cases of paper or paper towels, ribbons, trophies, scissors, paste, construction paper, holiday items, books, etc. The children in public elementary schools today will be the employees and business leaders of tomorrow. Our inattention to their needs today is easy to equate with the growing disparity between where we stand as a community and our future ability to stay competitive with those around us.”
This comparatively simple, yet focused statement is Lara’s most appealing reason for having so many join her chosen fight. The county speaks of complex budgets, and of shortfalls and needs. This young person has restated the problem not as an abstract, but refocused the problem as what can be done by the community to solve the problem.