Getting students to willingly recite poetry is a tall order. And in 2009, Gayle Robertson needed a carrot. So, the art and theater teacher for the Oregon School for the Deaf in Salem offered students who participated in the National Endowment for the Arts' Poetry Out Loud program a shot at a road trip.

The destination? The Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland.

Five students signed up for Poetry Out Loud that first year. There were eight slots for the trip, so Robertson had to scour the school for kids interested in making the trek. The few who made it, Robertson said, had a blast.

"The kids just came back on cloud nine," she said.

Fast forward to 2018 and Poetry Out Loud boasted 21 participants this past spring. Robertson wasn't hunting for field trip applicants. They come to her now.

The trip is one of several things funded in part by Friends of the Oregon School for the Deaf, a nonprofit that raises money for projects the state-run institution can't handle on its own. The nonprofit is one of 10 agencies selected for The Oregonian/OregonLive's 2018 Season of Sharing holiday fundraising campaign; this year's campaign focuses on education and literacy.

Board member Roshani Shay, whose son graduated from the school in the mid-'80s, said the organization helps the school with everything from small grants for teachers to items with much heftier price tags.

The nonprofit was established in 2006 and drew a handful of volunteers, Shay said. Twelve years later, it's still fully volunteer run. About two dozen people pitch in: Eight sit on the board, plus a secretary and an advisory council composed of 14 more volunteers.

The organization employs one person: a bookkeeper paid hourly to track expenses who files monthly reports.

The nonprofit's annual budget fluctuates with the needs of the school, which has around 120 students. In 2016, the organization pulled in approximately $9,600. This year's Shakespeare trip cost $3,524.

The school also had its eyes on a router that cost upward of $45,000.

No, not the kind of hardware that connects to the internet -- this is the sort of router woodworkers use to carve out cabinets and to help with other construction jobs.

The state chipped in half the cost of the power tool. Friends of the Oregon School for the Deaf raised the other half. Shay said the router would provide hands-on training for high schoolers interested in working with their hands right out of the gate.

"There are jobs out there just waiting for people with this skill that pay $22 an hour," she said. "This is just huge for people who are deaf."

In the past, the nonprofit has also chipped in for items such as trinkets teachers can use as prizes for competitive reading programs and stools with ball seating for fidgety students.

"The little things like that, they make a big difference," Shay said.

And for the last 10 years, Friends of the Oregon School for the Deaf also has paid for gas and lodging for Robertson's trips to Ashland.

This year, students watched a rendition of Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Oklahoma!" that featured gay and lesbian couples as the story's central focus. The production wasn't just a hit with the kids -- it earned a nod from The New York Times, as well.

"It's the kind of stuff you don't get to see in a little, small school production," Robertson said. "They loved the open-mindedness and curiosity of it all."

The trip is the perfect marriage of the material Robertson teaches in her classes and the extracurricular exercises students take on through the school's theater program. And, oddly enough, it also ties in with her third job at the school.

Robertson spends every morning in the greenhouse teaching middle and high school students about permaculture.

"I think it's all related because it's all about growing," she said. "It's all about creating something in a space and nurturing yourself in different ways."

The Ashland trip is a far cry from the kinds of outings the school could offer in the past, Shay said. Through the nonprofit, the school also these days provides family weekends, which provide resources for parents struggling with their children's behavioral needs or sign language lessons.

It's all in service of enhancing education, Robertson said. And although she's typically the one at the head of the class, the drama teacher said she gets just as much out of the job as her students.

"I think the teachers learn more than they teach," she said.

What your donation can do:

$10: Help pay for a field trip to the Lan Su Chinese Garden or Portland Japanese Garden

$25: Pay for shelving for the school's greenhouse project

$50: Provide sign language storybooks for iPads

$100: Help update software for the school's TV broadcast studio

How to donate

Send checks to:

Season of Sharing

Oregonians Credit Union

336 N.E. 20th Ave.

Portland, OR 97232