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

I recently had the opportunity to ask Perelman these and other questions herself, including what surprised her most about this venture and which recipe on her site best expresses “back to school.”

She quickly realizes that the wish list project, which she finds enjoyable and encouraging, does not require her to make any great sacrifices.

“Sometimes I almost feel guilty because I’m not enjoying this project so much,” she admits. “I would do it if it were harder, (but) I have to be honest – I’m not worried about it.”

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

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

EdSurge: When and how did the Classroom Wishlist Project start?

Deb Perelman: This is the third summer, so I’m guessing it started in 2022 – what year is that?

A reader wrote to me and said her daughter is a teacher and (the school) has not given her a budget for classroom materials. She asked: Would I mind sharing her classroom wish list with my readers and getting the word out?

And when I did that, I think their wish list was completed in less than a day. The generosity was just overwhelming. And I heard from many other teachers asking me if I could help them too. I thought, “Yeah, why not? Let’s just do it.”

The first summer, it wasn’t as organized. People would DM me their lists and I would share them 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 what city they’re in. I think that helps a lot because sometimes you read something like, “Oh, that’s a music classroom. I love music,” or “Oh, that’s my city.” So it makes more sense to people to have a little more information when there are so many (lists).

That way we got many, many, many more submissions – hundreds and hundreds. And I was worried – and still worry – that we’re getting too many submissions to make a meaningful difference. If it’s 20 lists, we’re going to wipe them out. But I can’t promise that at all for 900 lists – not even close.

But what I forget is that when you need things and a stranger sends you even a quarter of it or one (item), it still makes your day. It doesn’t matter if you only got the crayons or only 10 books. It can’t be that it’s not well received, even if it’s not everything that people need.

I imagine that people And Show appreciation for the humanity in it.

Yes, I think it’s a good feeling for both parties. And I think it’s really fun to buy books and crayons for classrooms. I love buying school supplies.

I have two kids, and they both go to public school. When they first started elementary school, at the beginning of the school year, we would get a list from the teachers: “Here are some things we might need for class. Bring them if you can.” And as fundraising got better at the public school, the parent association was able to bring in more money. We don’t have to buy school supplies at all anymore, and that’s really a privilege. I mean, we don’t even buy a single box of crayons. It’s just – it’s crazy.

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

This is a very organic start. Do you often get emails from readers asking you to support a cause?

Not as often as I would expect, but maybe I don’t keep an eye on my email as much.

One of the dark secrets of Smitten Kitchen is that I don’t have a staff, I’m just kind of a part-time assistant. I’m just a DIYer, which is good and bad. So I wouldn’t say that happens often, but I’ve enjoyed 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 simple. These are small, inexpensive purchases that can really make someone’s day. And then I get these beautiful letters back from them. It’s just the joy, the glowing joy of people coming into their classroom and finding that a total stranger has bought all the glue they need for the year. Or someone sent me this picture of – it must be 50 books for their classroom. Someone bought basically every book on her list, and she walked into her classroom and it was there.

How do teachers find you? Are they frequent readers of your online community?

Usually. Most of the time I do the shoutout on Instagram, which is where I have my biggest social community. I also have a website, but I try to channel it a little bit. Either someone is reading the page, or maybe it’s their kid or their friend. I’ve tried not to make it too broad and too open on the internet, because otherwise we just get 10,000 wish lists and nothing gets fulfilled.

But I also like the idea that if I can find someone part-time next summer, I can try to expand it a bit more. Maybe I can get some people to sponsor or pay off the wish lists, for example. I just don’t have the bandwidth to deal with that personally right now.

Is there a teacher this year or in previous years whose story has particularly stuck in your mind?

Oh my goodness, there were so many.

I remember last summer, after the wildfires in Hawaii, there were people specifically looking for the lists of these teachers (on Maui).

Especially when there’s been a tragedy or a weather disaster and it’s been in the news and teachers don’t even know how they’re going to start the school year, I think there’s a lot of focus on that. There’s definitely an interest in helping in such a concrete way – when what you’re doing has a direct impact on a child’s education and how their school year goes. In that way, it feels like the most satisfying giving.

Is there a wish that came up particularly often or something that surprised you when you looked through these wish lists?

I think the (most surprising) thing is that the success of a school is so dependent on the way we structure funding. And I’m not a national education expert by any means… but a lot of it comes from crowdsourced fundraising rather than the money that schools get from the state for their students.

In many places, parents don’t have any extra money to donate. And then there are other places where parents write checks to the PTA for $500 or more every year. It’s just crazy how much of an impact that has on a child’s education.

If you live in an area where parents don’t have a lot of money or spare change, why shouldn’t your kids’ classrooms have what they need? Why should that affect whether they have enough crayons? When you think about it, it’s crazy.

That was a revelation to me. I’ve also heard from so many retired and older teachers who say, “Oh my God, I must have spent $2,000 a year out of my own salary. It’s so nice that people want to help.” People don’t see the money that teachers spend. It’s invisible.

Do you measure success by the amount raised or the number of wish lists completed, or do you measure it at all?

I don’t actually measure it at all. … I use the thank you letters as a good measure of how it is received and how great the joy is. The joy is always clearly visible.

Last question: Which recipe on your website is the ultimate “back to school” recipe?

I think homemade Oreos have to be it, right? I mean, of course. Either you have grilled cheese and tomato soup – a kid-friendly meal – or you have homemade Oreos. They’re really simple: they’re like two chocolate sugar cookies with vanilla inside. They’re really fun.