DePaul Cristo Rey High School connects students to supplies with help from the Sam Hubbard Foundation

DePaul Cristo Rey High School (DPCR), the Catholic high school in Clifton, already does much to help its students, many of whom have limited financial means to attend college. Its college-preparatory classes prepare students for the vigor of college. Its Corporate Work Study Program, the only program of its kind of the Tristate, has students work five days a month at a business or organization in the region. There, they learn professional skills while working for a company that supports their education. And now, thanks to a collaboration between Crayons to Computers and the Sam Hubbard Foundation, DPCR is helping its students stay focused with access to school supplies, snacks and even toiletries.

The collaboration is called Hubbard’s Cupboard. The program provides participating schools with a “cupboard” that is stocked with free school supplies, hygiene products and healthy snacks so students can focus on their schoolwork, not the necessities. What started in five schools in 2022 has grown to 21 schools today, with DPCR joining in fall 2024. The foundation’s goal is to expand to 70 schools by the end of 2030.

“There are not only kids that don’t have snacks and school supplies, but kids are going to school without brushing their teeth or without the deodorant, without proper feminine care products,” says Matt Kittell, executive director of the Sam Hubbard Foundation. “And to not have that and to go without, how can you focus on learning? How can you focus on being a kid and being present? … These kids can go in anytime during the day, no questions asked, and be able to grab what they need and bring them back to their classrooms and really focus on what’s important.”

Kittell says that there are anywhere between 60 to 80 items that schools can order online with which to restock their cupboards every two weeks. Items include everything from hygiene products, deodorant, feminine care products and toothpaste to healthy snacks, like protein bars, and pretzels, in addition to school supplies like notebooks, pens and rulers.

Jennifer Glass, a science teacher at DPCR, says that Hubbard’s Cupboard has proven to be invaluable to students.

“What I found different this year is none of [the students are asking for supplies],” she says. “‘Ms. Glass, I need a pencil. Ms. Glass, I need paper. Ms. Glass, I need a new folder.’ No, I don’t get that anymore because they all go and get their own. They’re more responsible for their own supplies because they can go down there and get that at any time.”

Glass says the variety of items available has also been helpful. “For me personally, I like the hygiene stuff and other miscellaneous items because those are things students don’t want to ask for. But if they need it, they can just grab it at lunchtime and then now they have it,” she says.

And while Crayons to Computers has been a longtime source of school supplies for teachers like Glass, having Hubbard’s Cupboard in school has been helpful to them as well. In addition to saving them a trip to the Bond Hill facility, Glass says Hubbard’s Cupboard has enabled her to spend time on planning fun and educational activities for her students.

“What I found is I do still spend my own money, but it’s on a fun little lab activity. I’m just going to buy this extra lab activity or I’m going to go buy this fruit for this lab and then the extras, I’m going to let the students eat all the extras. And so I spend my pocket money that I normally would spend on students differently. I’m able to use it in other things in my classroom because I don’t have to go buy supplies for my students,” she says.

Kittell says that he and Hubbard have been thrilled with the partnership with DPCR, and impressed by the school, too.

“When I walked in, I think the two things that stuck out to me was, one, that it feels like [a] preparatory academy where everybody is held to a really high standard no matter where they come from. And I really saw that, and that kind of amazed me,” says Kittell. “And then it’s really [President Siobhan A. Taylor] and her staff holding those kids to a high standard. She is empathetic, but she’s also hard on them in the best way.”

To celebrate the new cupboard at DPCR, the formers Bengals player visited the school in October, spending the day with both faculty and students.

“Sam Hubbard came to our school, got to meet the students and they all got their pictures taken with him,” says Glass. “He came and gave a pep talk to the students and really it was just neat that he helps with Crayons to Computers.”

“Every child deserves the chance to succeed, and by expanding Hubbard’s Cupboards, we’re ensuring that more students have access to the essentials they need, both in and out of the classroom,” said Hubbard about the partnership with DPCR.

Adds Siobhan Taylor, DPCR president and CEO, “We’re excited to have the gift of a Hubbard’s Cupboard available for our students. The generosity of Sam, his foundation, Crayons to Computers and the Williams Foundation has helped make DPCR’s Cupboard possible. Seeing the positive impact of Hubbard’s Cupboard firsthand reinforces why partnerships like these are so crucial to our community.”