Generous donation to help disadvantaged students

Above: Jan Schutt, Valmae Richardson, Alison Schutt, David Muir and Peter Johnstone.

A not-for-profit organisation that donates used and recycled school supplies to struggling families has received a generous donation which will ensure they can continue to help improve education outcomes for some of Queensland’s most disadvantaged students.

Stationery Aid, which has helped hundreds of families across the Moreton Bay region, received a $20,000 donation from The Clem Jones Foundation.

Stationery Aid’s Director and Co-Founder Jan Schutt said the organisation were thankful for the support.

“We are very humbled to have received this benevolent donation from the Clem Jones Foundation which continues the philanthropic work for the former Brisbane Lord Mayor, the late Dr Clem Jones AO,” Mr Schutt said.

“Funding the Clem Jones Foundation has provided will enable Stationery Aid to reach more of our most vulnerable students not just in South East Queensland, but throughout the state.

“We are incredibly grateful for the ongoing support and inspiration the Clem Jones Foundation has provided Stationery Aid from the beginning.”

Helping families for two years

Stationery Aid began in 2020 when its co-founders, Jan and Alison Schutt, were unable to find somewhere to donate their children’s excess and used school stationery items.

Today, Stationery Aid has more than 30 drop off locations where people can donate items.

Volunteers from Stationery Aid then collect, sort, clean, renew and donate the used and unused educational resources in the form of yearly school stationery and booklists for disadvantaged students to start the school year.

Last year, Stationery Aid diverted 16,320 litres of used books and stationery items from landfill and helped 366 students in 2022 by donating repurposed booklists.

Of that number, 27 were students impacted by the recent floods.

If you would like to know more about the organisation, visit their website.