Paying out of pocket to stock classrooms with school supplies is a reality for teachers across the state—sometimes costing individual educators between $250 to $3,000. Plano ISD Education Foundation’s CORE Store has found a way to offset that expense. The CORE Store, located at 3900 W. 15th St., Plano, offers free school supplies to PISD teachers, ranging from crayons and notebooks to backpacks and first-aid kits. The CORE Store, which stands for “classroom resources for education,” is able to provide this service to the school district through partnerships with local businesses and grocery store chains as well as individual donations from Plano residents. “It’s just a community project in every way,” CORE Store supervisor Marta Lilly said. “All kinds of small corporations are doing supply drives in addition to the larger ones, and we absolutely have a huge volunteer base.” Having opened for business at the beginning of the 2016-17 academic school year, the store has almost served the number of teachers in the past two months as it had in its first year of operation, Lilly said. Teachers can register to pick up supplies during designated time slots Tuesday and Thursday afternoons from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. The CORE Store is a Plano ISD Education Foundation initiative. The foundation is a nonprofit organization that has gifted $17 million to PISD since its inception in 1993. “The foundation comes in where the tax dollars stop,” foundation Executive Director Kristin Alexander said. “Plano ISD still wants to be an incredible school district, so [it relies] on the foundation to have those corporate relationships that supports those kinds of programs.” Those who are interested in donating to the store can hand-deliver supplies to its store, set up office-cleanout days at their respective employers or donate money online.