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'Project Headphones' looks to give Arlington students in need headphones

'Project Headphones' has raised close to $8,000 to buy headphones in just 10 days.
1. A-Audio A21 Icon Wireless Over-Ear Headphones

ARLINGTON, Va. — A project is underway to give every student who needs headphones for virtual learning in Arlington County a pair to use this school year.

Cortney Weber, a parent of two children in the Arlington Public Schools system, started Project Headphones after having a conversation with her husband about ways to make sure their own children succeeded at virtual learning.

“We started making a list,” she said. “Desks, working space, and headphones were on that list as well and I really wanted to support something in the virtual realm.”

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Weber said she noticed something after crowdsourcing with local teachers and parents.

"Headphones repeatedly became an obvious essential item that they believed to be critical for children to have at the beginning of the school year,” she said.

Weber said they were not only an obvious tool, but also expensive.

So, she decided she would work to raise $10,000 on GoFundMe to ultimately buy headphones, with microphones, for Arlington students on free and reduced meals and other students who may need them.

“We have a responsibility, as a community, to take care of our most vulnerable,” she said. “We're only as strong as our most vulnerable.”

Weber set up a GoFundMe page named “Project Headphones”. In just ten days, the project has been able to raise close to $8,000.

She said she could not believe just how many people have reached out to help.

“I am more surprised at how many people I don't know on the donation list,” she said.

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Weber is working with APS to make sure headphones get in the hands of students who need them. On her fundraising page, she said all money raised through the effort will be given to the school district, which will in turn have its information technology department purchase an order of headsets in bulk.

“We appreciate the support of our community during this unprecedented time,” APS Spokesperson Frank Bellavia said in a statement. “The funds raised will help our students while they attend school virtually.”

Weber said that she signed a partnership agreement with the school district that will ultimately allow her fundraising campaign seek money from corporations.

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