TeamChildren, an Audubon, PA based nonprofit organization, today collaborated with Montgomery and Bucks County's Impact Thrift Stores to donate more than 10 pallets of office supplies for distribution among schools and charities serving children in need throughout the region. President and founder Robert Toporek met with Impact's community outreach coordinator Tamika Miller at TeamChildren's 21st century technology center to discuss their partnership in preventing the achievement gap.

TeamChildren's donation was made possible by Charming Shoppes, Inc. in Bensalem, PA that donated the office supplies to them in January. They donated organizers, dividers, 3 ring binders, hanging file folders, desk dividers and trash cans to distribute for free. Impact was the lucky recipient of all of these supplies and will distribute them throughout Montgomery and Bucks counties in their 4 thrift stores, schools in low income areas and charities they support financially with their net profits.

Families in the region and beyond can recycle resources effectively by utilizing both organizations' services. TeamChildren's digital initiative collects and distributes high quality low cost refurbished computers to families, schools and organizations throughout the region.

"Our major focus is on reuse," said Toporek. "These computers' life span can be greatly extended by refurbishing and redistributing them to families, organizations and schools that cannot afford new technology."

Impact provides low cost second hand clothing, furniture, books, jewelry, household items and appliances in their 4 thrift stores for an affordable price.

Both organizations have programs that empower teens to make a difference. TeamChildren's summer youth development program will begin Saturday, June 15, where teens from around the region will learn how to fix computers, edit the learning software and run a nonprofit organization. Similarly, Impact has a program called Impact Live that teaches students throughout the region how to set up a collection drive and learn business skills. Programs like these are changing the face of brain development of children in today's digital global environment and preventing the achievement gap.

"They are learning skills that they can carry with them throughout their entire life," said Miller.

Toporek showed Miller how to use the highly effective learning software loaded onto each computer TeamChildren distributes. Brillkids.com, a Hong Kong based software company, and AWE Learning, a software company in Chester, PA donated over $500,000 of learning software. Brillkids.com's Little Reader and Little Math learning programs and AWE's Elf, a safe web browser that lets kids surf more than 100 learning web sites from reading, science, technology, engineering to math, give families more time together in the safety of their home developing their children's brains early, finding jobs, getting scholarships to college and moving forward.