The Teacher's Desk

The Teacher’s Desk is a non-profit store in Buffalo NY, where thousands of educators shop for free on behalf of students in need.

Every year, The Teacher’s Desk distributes $8 million worth of school supplies, hygiene items, books and more. These items fulfil a dire need for students in the area, many of whom do not have means or access to these necessities.

The Challenge

The process is simple: each week during the school year, 200 teachers come to the Teacher’s Desk and fill a shopping cart with $1000 in free supplies. As a result of the pandemic, The Teacher’s Desk decided to offer curbside service to their teachers. Teachers would drive up, and volunteers would roll prepared shopping carts out to their cars.

For the first year of curbside shopping, they used a 16’ garage door. When the weather was nice, this worked beautifully, but when the snow and cold inevitably arrived, they found themselves doing all they could to keep the building and volunteers from freezing.

The dream was to create a curbside exit that would look good, bring light into the space, and most importantly keep the building and volunteers warm as the colder weather arrived. Enter ASSA ABLOY.

The Solution

“In researching online for a better curbside exit for our volunteers to load shopping carts I came across ASSA ABLOY Entrance Systems of Upstate NY and reached the sales dept and Mike Dedicke,” shared John Mika, Director of the Teacher’s Desk.  “Mike suggested that a sliding door would be a perfect fit for our needs.”

ASSA ABLOY and our team in Upstate New York were able to support the Teacher’s Desk by gifting them the door. Once they were installed, the new ASSA ABLOY automatic sliding doors were positioned within a few feet of the tailgates of shoppers’ vehicles, allowing volunteers to provide teachers with $1000 in free school supplies quicker and easier than ever before.

The glass doors allow natural sunlight to enter the space, but close tightly against the outside chill. They allow The Teacher’s Desk volunteers to serve the community effectively, but also comfortably.

“The doors look and perform as promised,” added Mika, “with incredible attention to detail from fit to finish and beautifully smooth as they operate with quiet perfection.”

Client Testimonial

Mika concluded, “The attention to detail from the product, to sales, to installation, to follow up was a most welcomed sight to experience. But what affected me most not only throughout the process, but each and every day when I look at our new sliding doors is the kindness of everyone at ASSA ABLOY, that helped make a dream come true for a not-for-profit ministry in Buffalo New York called The Teacher’s Desk.”

A Personal Note from the ASSA ABLOY Team

We considered it such a privilege to play even a small part in what the Teacher’s Desk is doing for the teachers and students in Western New York. The outpouring of thankfulness and joy we have received from the organization, its volunteers and its teachers have been deeply moving!

Providing accessibility is what it’s all about for us, whether physical or otherwise. We sincerely hope that our doors continue to have a positive impact well into the future.