In Nashville alone, 64 percent of students (more than 41,000 of 70,000 students) in Metro Schools come from families living below the poverty line. For them, school supplies are a rare luxury, one that compassionate teachers often use their own money to provide.
That’s where the LP Foundation comes in. We approached the PENCIL Foundation, a non-profit group that helps maintain the link between the private sector and Nashville schools, with an idea based on the LP-sponsored Schoolhouse Supplies model in Portland, Ore. We envisioned a free school supply store where people could drop off school supplies, volunteers would sort and inventory donations and teachers could shop for free.
A $45,000 donation from the LP Foundation as seed money made the LP PENCIL Box store a reality in September 2005.
Through the 2007-2008 school year, the store has distributed a total of $541,143 worth of supplies, and served more than 3,700 teachers in all 136 Metro Nashville Public Schools. The average value of supplies each teacher receives per visit is more than $150.
“I think it’s nice to know if you need something, this is where you go,” said DuPont Elementary Principal Stephanie Hoskins.
Thanks to the LP PENCIL Box, teachers are getting the tools they need to help kids learn and improving students’ odds of success—in the classroom and beyond.