Donors Choose is an organization based in New York that matches the needs of teachers—requests for books, materials and equipment not supplied by their school districts—with potential donors to fulfill them. It’s a personal form of philanthropy that connects you directly with the classrooms you are helping. They’ve just kicked off their 2008 Blogger Challenge and while browsing proposals, we were touched by this one from a teacher in Baltimore:

I teach 7th and 8th grade language arts in a low-income school. My students, although limited in resources and exposure to the world beyond their neighborhood, are enthusiastic learners.

One of my goals as an educator is to provide my students with new ways of understanding themselves and others through exposure to situations, ideas and perspectives that they might not otherwise consider. As an educator, I’ve found that one of the most important tool in shaping my students’ world views is literature.

Last year, I checked out 15 copies of Elie Wiesel’s “Night” from the public library and, sharing the limited copies of the novel, read the book with my 8th grade classes. Most of my students had never heard of the Holocaust. Our culminating activity was a trip to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C.

I hope to teach this book with my new students this year in conjunction with “The Diary of Anne Frank”, and my vision is for each student to have his/her own copy of both novels to take home and read at night. However, I do not have the funds available to purchase class sets of the novels.

Tonight, the 92nd Street Y will be honoring Elie Wiesel with a special VIP celebration with Barbara Walters, Theodore Bikel, Arthur Gelb and many more. If you can’t make it to the Y for this one of a kind event, you can watch the evening program in a free live webcast here.