“It’s something I started promoting over the summer and it’s basically to fund public school programs,” Lambert tells Samaritanmag. “I chose to emphasize the arts.
“The teachers go onto this site and describe what their project is that they need funding for. For example, a music teacher will go on and say, ‘I need a set of 35 headphones for my music production class for these kids.’ So you’ll know what you’re donating for, which is kind of satisfying for someone who is making a donation, and it’s very convenient as well. And they’ll post little articles about how it went.”
The site is laid out really simply with details about the school, the project cost, and includes a goal bar showing how much money is needed and how much has been donated to date. One teacher needs two ELMO visual presenters for the classroom; another bus transportation for a 4-day Chicago culture trip for 80 students and four teachers scheduled for June.
Lambert’s role is “just bringing awareness to it,” he says. “I tweeted about it. I did some video content on it. I held a little contest amongst the different fan groups that have developed for me over the last couple of months — who can raise the most money for DonorsChoose. It’s great because it’s helping kids and it’s helping the arts which is one of the first programs to get cut.”
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