There were about 600 of them.

They include Chromebooks for the debate team at Clyde C. Miller Career Academy in St. Louis to use for research during competitions. Butterfly kits will be going to Cool Valley Elementary School in the Ferguson-Florissant School District so third-graders can raise butterflies and learn about pollination. And basic school supplies such as crayons and scissors will be going to Woerner Elementary in St. Louis, where most students come from poverty.

Nationwide, more than 50 athletes, actors, founders, and philanthropists announced a surprise “flash funding” of classroom projects posted on DonorsChoose.org. Together, they committed more than $14 million to fund nearly 12,000 projects ranging from art supplies to field trips. On social media, the campaign is called #BestSchoolDay and challenges others to join in contributing.

Donors include tennis champion Serena Williams, supporting projects in Compton, Calif.; Bill and Melinda Gates, covering projects in the Bronx; Samuel L. Jackson, supporting schools in Chattanooga, Tenn.; and Ashton Kutcher, taking care of projects in Iowa.

Their donations were personal, often going to hometowns and states where they had grown up.

“America’s future depends on good education, and that depends on better respect and appreciation for our teachers and classrooms,” said Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist.org. “With DonorsChoose.org, I can help out in my home state of New Jersey, and in Detroit, where I spent 10 years.”

Dorsey is a St. Louis native who graduated from Bishop DuBourg High School in 1995. In the St. Louis area alone, Dorsey’s contributions funded more than 100 projects, benefitting thousands of children of every age. Neither Dorsey nor DonorsChoose.org released the exact amount of his contribution to Missouri schools.

The contributions will buy supplies and learning opportunities for students in most districts in the area, including Francis Howell, Webster Groves, Hazelwood and Hancock Place.

Laura Kroepel, a kindergarten teacher at Chesterfield Elementary in the Rockwood School District, saw an email at 5:30 a.m. Thursday notifying her that her projects had been fully funded.

Soon, she’ll receive additional reading and math materials, such as workbooks, and classroom supplies. Another teacher at the school will receive kits that will allow students to go up into trees to study science.

“It’s impacting three grade levels,” Kroepel said of the donation. “Over 150 kiddos at our school. It’s huge.”

Often, teachers themselves fund projects and supplies such as the ones they register for on DonorsChoose.org. Christy Beck, an art teacher at Ford Elementary School in St. Louis, wanted a kiln for her students. But resources in St. Louis Public Schools are tight and she couldn’t pay for it herself.

She hadn’t yet seen the email from DonorsChoose.org notifying her it would be coming, when a call from a reporter came. “What?!” Beck exclaimed. “Are you serious?”

The impact of the contributions is perhaps the most profound in high-poverty schools where classrooms are often short on books and basic supplies. Lucas Crossing Elementary School in the Normandy Schools Collaborative will be getting fiction and nonfiction books to fill two classroom libraries. The project cost was $2,088, financed entirely by one donor: Dorsey.

At Cool Valley Elementary School in Ferguson, teachers were running into the main office at various times in the morning with news that their projects had been funded, Principal Suzette Simms said. They will allow children to do more project-based learning in science, technology, engineering and math.

Angie Sample, who teaches 18 kindergarten and first-grade boys at Woerner Elementary in St. Louis, has five projects collectively worth about $3,000. She’ll be receiving Kindle Fire tablets to help her students with phonics and reading, a reading nook couch, material to help teach STEM, and more.

At Preclarus Matery Academy, a charter school in midtown St. Louis, students have been using hand-me-down gym equipment from another school. Now the school has about $2,400 to spend on dodgeballs, cones, jump-ropes, volleyballs and other equipment. It will allow the school to have a fully functional P.E. program, Principal Tonya Harris said.

And at Carr Lane Visual Performing Arts Middle School, which also serves a high-poverty population in the city, social studies teacher Josie Johnston will be getting seven Chromebooks for her sixth-graders. Her request was worth $2,100 and was about to expire for lack of donations, she said.

“It made my day, made my month, made my year,” Johnston said, going on to describe how the technology will allow her students to do research in class. Her room has three functioning computers, Johnston said.

“Technology for these kids — they have some access. But most have none,” she said. “This just made a huge impact in the lives of 163 kids.”

Projects funded through the #BestSchoolDay campaign needed to be registered on the site by March 7. But Sergey Brin, the co-founder of Google, and Brian Acton, the co-founder of WhatsApp, together pledged $3.2 million to match any donations made toward projects on the site starting on Thursday.

The campaign is the largest flash funding effort DonorsChoose.org has undertaken since it began in 2000. The site allows anyone to help a classroom in need. Teachers at more than two-thirds of public schools in the United States have created project requests.