Printing Industry Midwest’s 45th Annual Paper Drive – Donating Paper to Teachers

MINNEAPOLIS, MN — Printing Industry Midwest (PIM), the not-for-profit trade organization representing the Midwest’s leading print service providers, hosted our 45th Annual PIM Paper Drive on Saturday, October 7, 2023. After a few years off due to Covid, PIM was beyond happy to bring back this heart-warming event to help support Minnesota teachers and school.

Teachers want the best for their students. Each year most teachers resort to paying out of their own pocket for classroom supplies because their budgets have been cut down to nothing, or in some cases they have no budget at all. During Saturday’s event, teachers explained their budget for supplies is razor thin and some said their budget was approximately ninety cents to one dollar and fifty cents per student. How are teachers supposed to teach with little to no supplies for their students? Why do we expect them to cover supplies with their own money?

For forty-five years, PIM along with our current Paper Drive partner and host, Lindenmeyr Munroe, has helped lessen the burden teachers bare for providing educational materials by providing them with free paper. Each year, PIM enlists our printing and associate members to go through their warehouse and identify any obsolete, overstocked or leftover paper and donate it. White copier paper, full-sized sheets of every weight and color, pressure-sensitive sheets, large format, foam core, envelopes and even butt rolls are graciously donated by our members. The day before the event, PIM members deliver their surplus paper to Lindenmeyr Munroe, located in Fridley, MN. For the third year in a row, Lindenmeyr Munroe staff has volunteered their time and resources to help make this event seamless.

This year, PIM and Lindenmeyr Munroe, welcomed over 350 teachers with thousands of pounds of donated paper. Some Minnesota Educators drove up to four hours on a Saturday morning to attend the event so their students could have a better education. Teachers started lining up at the door as early as 6:50 AM, a little over two hours before the door opened. Many of the teachers who have attended this event for multiple years know how important it is to be one of the first ones through the door, just like Black Friday shopping.

Teachers have two hours to collect paper as they need and they utilize every second of it. They brought extra hands such their spouses, friends or family members to help them pile paper on carts, wagons, suitcases and dollies. Then they pack their cars, vans, trucks, U-Hauls and trailers with paper. All the way from Brainard, MN, parents of a teacher came to collect paper for their daughter’s classroom because she was unable to attend. Within the first hour of the event, most of the was gone.

Teachers are in desperate need of paper due to budget cuts and it is obvious with the passion they put out for getting this paper. View a video, click here and view pictures on PIM’s Facebook page, click here, from the 2023 PIM Paper Drive.

In addition to Lindenmeyr Monroe, the following companies donated their surplus paper to the 2023 PIM Paper Drive; Anchor Paper Company, Canon Solutions America, CGS ORIS | Americas, ENPOINTE, Graphic Design Inc., Ideal Printers Inc., IWCO, Japs-Olson Company, Midland Paper Packaging & Supplies, Modernistic Inc, Pioneer Paper Stock Co., Royal Business Forms & Printing and Thomson Reuters Core Publishing Solutions. Thank you for all your donations! Teachers and students across the state, thank you!

The donations from our members are saving school programs and supplying entire schools with paper product. We hope to continue this event for the years to come. Teachers, if you are in need of paper, please make sure to monitor our website (www.pimw.org/paper-drive/) to find out when the 2024 Paper Drive will happen. Printers, please save your surplus paper, any size and color, for the 2024 Paper Drive and monitor our website.