Karen Tyler is a teacher at Citrus High School.

“I teach early childhood at this time," she told Bay News 9's Katya Guillaume. "I teach early childhood 1, which is the introductory to early childhood.” 

She helps high schoolers break into the education field, which is no surprise to many - all know it comes with some challenges.

“The students that I have here have created activities and lessons that required them to go out and buy their own materials," she said. "I don’t encourage that, they want to.” 

Thanks to Shaunda Burdette who runs the ship at the Education Foundation, Tyler's students don’t have to pay for supplies out of pocket.

“For all the work that we do to be able to see the full circle effect, I think this is incredible,” Burdette said.  

In order for Burdette to help Tyler in her classroom, the work starts in places like The U.S. Family Foundation. 

“The U.S. Family Foundation is a public charity that provides a vehicle for everyday individuals to set up permanent endowments for their favorite charities," Johnny Cash said. 

Cash is an accountant and through one of the various accounts he manages, he was able to write one of the biggest checks to the Citrus County Education Foundation.

He said, “A lot of the folks who’ve given to the U.S. Family Foundation, they want to benefit Citrus County charities. It’s just an amazing blessing to be able to sit across the table from a charity and say by the way, because of our donors, here’s a check for $90,000.” 

That’s how much money Burdette received to put toward scholarships and school supplies to stock the shelves so that teachers like Tyler can always find items for their students.

“It’s really amazing to have it readily available," Tyler said. "A lot of times you have to order online, things are on backorder or there’s a process and it takes a while. To have it easy to access and have it available when you need it is fantastic.” 

She said it's also a burden off her shoulders, now that she can continue on with her lesson plan with enough supplies for her kids.

This donation is just one of the many generous donors that makes the teacher store and scholarships possible for Citrus County kids. 

You can learn all about the foundation by clicking https://www.citruseducation.org