Elana Militzok started the school year at Oakland Park Elementary with a bare kindergarten classroom -- and a secret weapon to fill it.

By spring, the room was teeming with brightly colored educational toys, art supplies, markers, puzzles, writing journals, recess equipment and books. The supplies, worth thousands of dollars, came from strangers who saw Militzok's pleas for funding on a website called DonorsChoose.org.

''You can be a great teacher, but unless you have the materials to teach with, it's hard,'' Militzok said.

On the site, educators write detailed proposals about items they need and explain how they will be used. Online philanthropists can fund a portion or all of the project, and the charity buys the supplies and ships them to the school. All donors get an e-card from the teacher, and those who give more than $100 or who give the last amount to fulfill the need get photos and handwritten thank-you cards from students and the teacher.

Donors have fulfilled 11 projects for Militzok's class this year.

At a time when school budgets are tight, educators say the website -- which received the highest rating from Charity Navigator -- provides an opportunity to give students resources that schools, parent groups and the teachers themselves couldn't afford. All donations to DonorsChoose.org are tax deductible.

Founder Charles Best, a former teacher in the Bronx, was frustrated by the meager resources available when he and colleagues came up with the idea more than seven years ago.

''Most of us would spend our own money on basic copy paper and pencils,'' said Best, 32. ``For the most part, we saw our students going without the materials they needed for a good education.''

The site was first available only to New York City public school teachers, then spread to a handful of states. It expanded to the rest of the country in the fall; so far, Florida teachers have received about $165,000 in goods from donors in 38 states.

By early May, 95 proposals had been funded in Miami-Dade for almost $36,000. In Broward, 27 had been funded for more than $8,300.

''There are so many things that we have to buy as teachers,'' said Melody Gutierrez, a Miami Park Elementary teacher who also uses the site. ``It's allowed me to do a lot more fun things and be more creative with my kids during lessons. It makes the classroom a nicer place.''

Thanks to the charity, Gutierrez has outfitted her second-grade classroom with a giant carpet that bears a map of the United States, seat covers that hold kids' books, a listening center so students can practice reading aloud, a Dr. Seuss library, miniature whiteboards for kids to write on and even pencils and crayons.

`LOT OF NEW STUFF'

''The first day of school, we didn't have any good stuff,'' said 9-year-old Taurrian Stafford. But, he said, after Gutierrez went online and asked for supplies, ``we got a lot and a lot of new stuff and our room got good.''

The website has given Gutierrez, who like Militzok found out about the website while teaching in New York, the chance to talk to her students about giving.

Other sites, including iLoveSchools.com and Miami-based www.adoptaclassroom.org, offer services similar to DonorsChoose.org. Experts say these organizations are examples of how online social interaction is connecting people with needs to those who want to help.

''It's another magical solution to some of the nation's persistent problems with inequity,'' said Claire Gaudiani, a professor of philanthropy and fundraising at the Heyman Center for Philanthropy and Fundraising at New York University. ``It's driven by the young generation, and that's a very good sign for America.''

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