Community members score on discarded school supplies: 'This was needed'

Kate Perez, Chicago Tribune on Aug 5, 2026

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CHICAGO — In the midst of making last-minute preparations on Monday to open a home daycare, owner Parish Banks wondered how she would afford all the supplies she needs to start the year and educate her students to their fullest potential. Her answer would come in the form of a Facebook post that appeared in her feed, notifying community members about a dumpster filled with school supplies outside Carlos Fuentes Elementary School in the Avondale neighborhood.

The post popped up Sunday night letting people know that the dumpster outside Fuentes Elementary, one of the five schools transitioning from being in the charter school Acero Network to the Chicago Public Schools district, was sitting untouched and filled to the brim with discarded items, including classroom decor, chapter books, art supplies, toys, textbooks and more.

The supplies were just what Banks needed for Pristine Leadership Academy, her daycare in Grand Crossing set to open for the first time on Tuesday. After making the 30-minute drive to the North Side school and digging through the discarded supplies, Banks walked away with books, arts and crafts supplies, table organizers, bins and more, calling it a “blessing.”

“This was needed. A lot of this stuff I’ve had to buy and get off Facebook Marketplace,” Banks told the Tribune. “I saw it this morning at like 6 a.m. when I got up, I immediately rushed over here because I’m like, I need all this … I’m going to get a lot of things. I kind of need a lot of things. This is perfect.”

The post and dumpster sparked an online discussion about the pressure on parents and guardians to purchase new school supplies at the start of each academic year while piles of materials are discarded during summer vacation. It is unclear why the materials were discarded. CPS did not return a request for comment.

Multiple comments called the discarding of the supplies a “waste” that could have been donated or reused by educators rather than dumped, especially as school materials prices have risen by over 10% since July 2023, the Tribune previously reported.

The appearance of the discarded school supplies comes as the state plans to offer a 5% reduction on the sales tax on school materials from Aug. 7 through Aug. 16 to help curb expenses. The National Retail Federation estimates that K-12 families plan to spend around $863.86 on back-to-school items this year, a slight increase from the estimated $858.07 in 2025.

Those high prices are also hitting educators and community members like Banks as they try to fund their classrooms and facilities.

For Banks, those costs come from every part of running an educational daycare, from organizational items to supporting a play-based curriculum.

“Now to do play-based things and have a curriculum at that level, it is expensive. It is hard to teach people in a play-based way because things to play with are expensive.” Banks said. “Bins, literally things just to store, are $10 to $15. These (organizers) to go in the middle of the table are $10 to $15.”

Digging for the discarded materials is another way for Banks to show up for her community and its future, she added.

“I’m over here dumpster diving for these books. I’m over here dumpster diving for this stuff … out here getting these things for my young Black and brown people on the South Side of Chicago,” Banks said. “I’m so grateful for this, and I needed this. Had I known, they could have just called me and gave it to me.”

To reduce waste and help educators and community members like Banks was Ashley Di Bella’s hope when she posted pictures of the dumpster and its contents on a Facebook buy-nothing community page. It’s not just trash in the dumpster, but real supplies that people can use, including toys, science beakers, Play-Doh, Magic Tree House series books and more, Di Bella told the Tribune.

She added that it’s a sad time right now with supplies being discarded, and while it makes people upset that the materials were tossed out, she still saw importance in making the public post.

“I’d rather post and let people know, ‘Hey, come get this,’ than to be worried, upset right now,” Di Bella said. “… Just come and get it. Let’s try to get it out of the landfill and let’s see what we can do.”

Meanwhile, Banks said she was going to call everyone she knew who could benefit from the supplies and began doing so while still searching for herself.

“Girl, you need to get down here,” Banks said to a friend on video call as she rifled through the supplies with her one hand before turning the phone to show the dumpster. “Look, curriculum, paint, Play-Doh, (they have) everything.”