Impact on Education used a Boulder Valley School District warehouse to create a pop-up shop of $80,000 worth of donated school supplies, then invited about 500 educators to shop for free for their classrooms and students.

The recently reopened Superior Target donated the 22 pallets of new supplies, which the store wasn’t able to sell because of a delayed reopening after the Marshall Fire.

“These supplies will all end up in the hands of students,” said Allison Billings, executive director of Impact on Education.

The first round of shoppers went through on Monday, picking out markers, pens, pencils, notebooks, binders, scissors, glue, crayons, lunch bags and other supplies.

Those given the first chance to shop included educators at schools impacted by the Marshall Fire, community liaisons who work with homeless and displaced students, and first-year teachers still outfitting classrooms.

About 800 Boulder Valley students and 50 staff members were displaced by the Dec. 30 Marshall Fire, including about 500 students whose homes were destroyed.

“We’re getting all the goods,” said Louisville’s Fireside Elementary community liaison Candace Garbow as she went through the warehouse collecting supplies based on requests from classroom teachers. “This is amazing. We feel so grateful. This is the perfect example of people not forgetting about us.”

Lynn Manders’ finds included locker supplies, from shelves to decorations.

“These are some of the extra things that families might not buy because money is so tight,” said Manders, who is the counseling office registrar at Louisville Middle School. “We have a lot of kids in need.”

Carolina Oquelis deLau, the community liaison at Boulder’s Columbine Elementary was looking for “everything” for students in need at her school. Her job includes supporting students who qualify for help through the federal McKinney-Vento program for students without stable housing.

Ema Lyman, Boulder Valley’s McKinney Vento specialist, has about 400 students in her caseload — not including students who remain displaced after the Marshall Fire. While those students generally no longer qualify because their families have found stable housing, she said, her office continues to support them with help from Impact on Education.

“This is just an amazing support,” she said as she picked out lunch boxes. “Lunch boxes and backpacks are always nice to have brand new. It’s an equalizer for students.”

The Superior Target reopened Aug. 30, after some construction delays pushed back an early August opening. The Marshall Fire caused damage to the roof, and the sprinkler system saturated store merchandise.

Shawn Stratton, Target store team leader, said he was in a meeting to talk about a store remodel right before the store was ordered to evacuate because of the fire.

After the fire, the store was closed, gutted and fully remodeled to the more modernized floor plan and design that’s been rolled out at stores throughout the state over the last several years.

Stratton said the store ordered school supplies in anticipation of the early August opening, but then had to make room for Halloween merchandise when the store opened after school started.

The assistant managers suggested the store ask for a corporate grant to donate $10,000 worth of the unused supplies. When corporate agreed easily, he asked for $25,000. Then he asked to just donate all the school supplies, with a value of about $80,000.

“It was really the thoughtfulness of my team that made it happen,” he said.