NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Teachers put in a lot of time and money to make sure students succeed. Buying classroom supplies can really add up, but thankfully there are resources to help.
On Thursday, the PENCIL resource center will celebrate a huge milestone of giving away $20 million in school supplies to Metro teachers since it opened 18 years ago.
The DG PENCIL Box in West Nashville allows teachers to come once a month at no cost and stock up on basic supplies.
The Dollar General Literacy Foundation has been a sponsor since 2022 and has been crucial to achieving this milestone.
Last school year, nearly $3 million of supplies were distributed through teacher shopping, pop-ups, giveaways and even through school deliveries. It’s made PENCIL the largest distributor of free school supplies in the state.
For people of my generation, in our younger days we spent part of our weekends watching music shows like American Bandstand and Soul Train. That was before the age of music videos. Several years before Soul Train was syndicated out of Chicago, another syndicated R&B show was taped in Nashville at NewsChannel 5. Night Train aired in the 60s and included what may have been the first TV appearance for legendary guitarist Jimi Hendrix. Forrest Sanders has another great look back at station history.
-Lelan Statom
