Google’s 1,400 employees in Washington state surprised teachers by fully funding classroom requests from every teacher in King, Pierce, and Snohomish Counties that were posted to the crowd funding site DonorsChoose.org.
Google donated $338,000 for 388 projects resulting in 295 teachers receiving materials for over 36,000 students, according to Seattle Mayor Ed Murray, who made the announcement yesterday at Highland Park Elementary School in Seattle.
The donation was made by 1,400 Google employees, who work in Seattle’s Fremont neighborhood and the city of Kirkland. That headcount number was provided by a Google representative speaking at yesterday’s surprise event, according to the West Seattle Blog.
In March 2013, the Mountain View, Calif.-based company announced it had roughly 1,000 employees in the Seattle region, and that it had plans to grow aggressively following the completion of two new buildings in Kirkland. Those offices, slated to open in the second quarter of 2015, will allow Google to double the size of its Kirkland campus.
Google’s donations will go towards basic tools, such as paper, pencils, and books. In the case of the Highland Park Elementary, where the announcement was made, the teacher specifically requested two HP Chromebooks, and ironically, a Microsoft Surface Tablet.
Over the past few months, Google has announced similar “flash funding” campaigns in San Francisco, Atlanta, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Austin, Kansas City, and Los Angeles.
Here’s a video of the announcement, including a scene where kids are opening up boxes like it’s Christmas morning:
