How a Best-Selling Food Writer Came to Run a Wish List-Clearing Project for Teachers

The famous food writer lives in Manhattan and has children entering fourth and 10th grade this year. There are all sorts of causes and issues she could support. Why, I wondered, did she choose this one?

I recently got to ask Perelman that myself, along with other questions — like what has most surprised her about the endeavor and what recipe on her site most says “back to school.”

She is quick to note that the wish list project, which she finds gratifying and heartening, does not require major sacrifice on her part.

“I almost feel guilty, sometimes, about what a low lift this project is for me,” she admits. “I would do it if it was harder, [but] I feel like I have to be honest — I’m not sweating over this.”

She adds: “It’s more a reflection of the generosity of the community, and the kindness. This is not about me doing anything special. I’m really just using a space I’ve already created to bounce the light back to people who need it.”

The following interview has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity.

EdSurge: When and how did the Classroom Wishlist Project first begin?

Deb Perelman: This is the third summer, so I guess that means that it began in — what year is this? — 2022.

A reader messaged me, and she said her daughter was a school teacher, and [the school] had given her no budget for classroom supplies. She asked: Would I mind sharing her classroom wish list with my readers and getting the word out?

And when I did, they wiped out her wish list in, I feel like, under a day. The generosity was just staggering. And I heard from a lot of other teachers who asked if I could help them, too. I thought, ‘Yes, why not? Let’s just do this.’

The first summer, it was not the most organized. Like, people would [direct message] me their list, and I would share it in a spreadsheet. By the second summer, which was last summer, I knew I was going to do this as a project, hopefully every year.

I created a Google Form where teachers could submit their list, and asked them to tell us a little bit about their classroom and to tell us what city they’re in. I think that helps a lot because sometimes you might read, like, ‘Oh, it’s a music classroom. I love music,’ or, ‘Oh, that’s my town.’ So it’s more meaningful for people to have a little more information when there are so many [lists].

Doing it that way, we got a lot, a lot, a lot more submissions — like hundreds and hundreds and hundreds. And I worried — and I still worry — that we get too many submissions to make any meaningful difference. If it’s 20 lists, we’re going to wipe them out. But I can’t promise that for 900 lists at all — or even close.

But the thing I forget is that, if you need stuff and a stranger sends you even a quarter of it or one [item], it still just completely makes your day. Whether you just got the crayons or just got 10 books, it doesn’t matter. There’s no way it’s not well received, even if it’s not everything people need.

I imagine people receiving and giving appreciate the humanity of it.

Yeah, I think it feels good on both sides. And I think it feels really fun to buy books and crayons for classrooms. I love buying school supplies.

I have two kids, and they’re both in public school. When they first started in their elementary school, we would get [a list] from the teachers at the beginning of the year, ‘Here’s some stuff we could use for the classroom, bring it in if you can.’ And then, as the fundraising improved at the public school, the PTA was able to bring in more money. We no longer have to buy any school supplies at all, and it really is such a privilege. I mean, we don’t even buy a single box of crayons. It’s just — it’s crazy.

We got very lucky. … And like I said, I think it’s so fun to buy crayons and books and whatever for a classroom. It feels really good.

That’s a very organic start. Do you often get reader emails of people asking for you to support a cause?

Not as often as I would expect, but maybe I’m not that on top of my email.

One of the dark Smitten Kitchen secrets is that I have no staff, just sort of a very, very, very part-time assistant. I’m just like a do-it-myself person, which is good and bad. So I wouldn’t say this happens a ton, but I liked this one. It feels good. I think everybody wins. I love the idea of supporting teachers.

The things that these teachers need are often so basic. These are small, inexpensive purchases that can really make somebody’s day. And then I get these lovely notes back from them. It’s just the joy, the incandescent joy, from people who walk into their classroom and find that a complete stranger bought all the glue they needed for the year. Or somebody sent me this picture of — it must be 50 books for her classroom. Somebody bought basically every book on her list, and she walked into her classroom and it was there.

How do the teachers find you? Are they often readers in your online community?

Usually. I mostly do the shoutout through Instagram, where I have my largest social community. I have a website too, but I almost try to funnel it down a little bit. It’s either somebody who reads the site, or it might be their kid or their friend. I was trying to keep it from being too wide and too open on the internet, because otherwise we’ll just get 10,000 wish lists and nothing will get filled.

But I also like the idea, if I can get a part-time staff person next summer, of trying to expand it a little bit more. Like maybe I can get some people to sponsor or match wish list clearing. I just don’t have, personally, the bandwidth to dig into that right now.

Is there any teacher this year or in past years whose story stands out to you?

Oh, my goodness, there have been so many.

I remember last summer, after the wildfires in Hawaii, there were people who were looking specifically for the lists from those teachers [on Maui].

Especially when there’s been some sort of tragedy or weather disaster, and it’s been in the news and teachers don’t even know how they’re going to start their school year, I think there’s definitely a lot of focus on that. There’s definitely an interest in helping in such a specific way — where what you’re doing is going to directly affect a kid’s education and how their year goes. It feels like the most satisfying giving in that way.

Is there a request that has been especially frequent or something that surprises you when you look through these wish lists?

I think the thing that [is most surprising] is just that so much of how a school thrives depends on the way we do funding. And I am not a national expert on education in any way … but so much of it comes from crowdsourced fundraising and not out of the money schools get from the state for students.

In a lot of places, parents don’t have extra money to give. And then there’s other places where parents are writing $500 checks or more to the PTA every year, and it’s just crazy how much that changes a kid’s education.

If you’re in an area where parents don’t have deep pockets and a lot of spare change, why should the kids’ classrooms not have what they need? Why should that affect whether they have enough crayons? It’s wild when you think of it that way.

That’s what’s been eye-opening for me. I’ve also heard from so many retired teachers and older teachers who are like, ‘Oh, my gosh, I must have spent $2,000 a year from my own paycheck. This is so nice that people want to help out.’ People don’t see this money that the teachers are spending. It’s invisible.

Do you measure success by dollars raised or wish lists cleared, or are you measuring it at all?

I’m actually not measuring it at all. … I do use the thank you notes as a good measure of how it’s being received and the joy. You can always just see the joy.

Final question: What recipe on your website is the most quintessential ‘back to school’ recipe?

I think homemade Oreos have got to be it, right? I mean, of course. It’s either going to be grilled cheese and tomato soup — a kid-friendly meal — or it’s going to be homemade Oreos. They’re really easy: It’s like two chocolate sugar cookies with vanilla in them. They’re really fun.