performing for pencils: to use student performances to build community award winner and collect new school supplies for area kids in need
meet founder jessica goldberg of town & country
When did you start the organization?
My classmate, Ethan Orchard, and I started it in 2013, the fall of our freshman year at John Burroughs. We’re both seniors now and are leaving the organization in very capable hands! Younger students involved with it will be taking over the leadership roles.
What made you interested in this particular cause?
We were inspired by our work as teaching assistants with Aim High St. Louis, a five-week, tuition-free, academic enrichment program for middle school students who come from poverty-stricken areas in St. Louis. These students are incredibly motivated but don’t have the resources to succeed. We tutor them in core subjects like math and science, but we also work on life skills and values through character-building sessions and electives, which really allows us to create lasting friendships and form bonds with these kids. Ethan and I both just loved working with them and wanted to leave a more lasting impression. Both of us have been involved in school and community theater since we were little, so we decided to channel our passion for both performing and eliminating educational inequality to start Performing for Pencils. It’s based on an annual talent show.
How does the talent show work?
We recently hosted our third show at John Burroughs. Admission is free, but we ask that people bring an unused school supply; people give monetary donations, too. Throughout the year, we also have T-shirt and bake sales and raffles, so we can accumulate funds to buy supplies based on the specific needs of schools. We liked the idea of a talent show because there isn’t a clear winner; it’s just a great community-building effort. We get performers from all over St. Louis. This year, more than 30 schools were involved and there were around 20 acts—musicians, vocalists, rock bands, dancers, contortionists, pianists, unicyclers, you name it. It’s all about pounding the pavement and getting the word out there, which was especially true the first year we started because no one knew about it! My team and I pass out fliers after theater productions and at dance and gymnastics studios to see who might be interested in performing. It’s amazing how willing and excited everyone is to donate their time and talent. Now, we have performers who come to us asking to be involved. And we love that many of the students in the talent show are from schools that receive our donations, like Soldan International Studies High School and Nahed Chapman New American Academy. Our first show in the summer of 2014 raised more than $10,000 in one night! We’ve grown exponentially since then and have raised more than $73,000 in monetary donations and school supplies since we began. We’ve given to the St. Louis Public School District, Ferguson-Florissant School District, Soldan and Nahed Chapman.
If you could do anything for the organization, what would it be?
My hope is that one day Performing for Pencils will have the funds to reach all students in our region who need school supplies, and I want the organization to continue to promote inclusiveness and racial harmony in the St. Louis community.
in the words of performing for pencils: “We are so grateful for Jessica and Ethan’s foresight to begin such a great charity and are excited about carrying on their legacy!
our wish list
» Backpacks
» Binders
» Spiral notebooks
noteworthy
» Performing for Pencils received the national Princeton Prize in Race Relations, which recognizes high school students who have had a significant positive effect on race relations in their schools or communities through their volunteer efforts. The organization was applauded for the racial, cultural, ethical and socioeconomic diversity of its talent show performers and its cultivation of tolerance and inclusiveness in the St. Louis community.
» Jessica Goldberg was the 2016 recipient of the Diller Teen Tikkun Olam Award from the Helen Diller Family Foundation, which promotes the central Jewish precept of tikkun olam, ‘repairing the world.’ Helen Diller was a lifelong philanthropist who wanted to encourage Jewish teens to better the world through exceptional leadership and service.
Photo: Colin Miller of Strauss Peyton Photography