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Narrative: Nationally, teachers spend an average of $500 of their own money to provide supplies that the $100 a year, typically budgeted by schools, cannot begin to cover. The Knox County Schools-PTA Teacher Supply Depot opened in January 2001 to provide teachers with supplies they need to deliver quality educational programs. The Depot is located in a portion of an unused school building. The PTA provided the volunteers (who have contributed over 1,500 hours to the project to date) to clean, paint and organize the depot. The depot has an office, a sorting/delivery room, paper products room, educational supplies room, arts and crafts room, and equipment room. Educators are provided a bucket to "shop" for supplies on scheduled Saturdays. Volunteers are available to restock shelves as they quickly empty. Prior to opening, the PTA publicized their request for donated supplies to the local business community through PSA's, news stories, billboards and direct appeals to targeted businesses.
Teachers complete an inventory form as they completed their visit to the depot and place a value on the items they have selected and volunteers record the items on a computerized inventory form. Individual schools receive copies of the value of the merchandise selected by teachers and these may be used as in-kind contributions for grant proposals.
It Works! The Depot opens on scheduled Saturdays at 8:00 am and teachers have arrived at 4:00 am to wait their turn to enter. Two hundred and one teachers participated during the first opening in January 2001 and left with merchandise valued at $22,000. The numbers have steadily increased and the last Depot day had 357 teachers who left with over $41,000 in merchandise. Teacher reaction is immense gratitude that the community has contributed much needed supplies to their programs. Supporters include Knox County Schools, Knox County Education Association, Goodwill, Knoxville Chamber, Knox County Government, Pellissippi State, Burger King, Flynt Engineering, White Lily, Mayfield Dairy, Staples Office Supplies, Wal-Mart, UT Hospital, Target, to name a few.
Contact:
Bobbie Wyatt
4516 Bucknell Drive
Knoxville, TN 37938
(voice) 865-922-7381
Depot Phone: 865-594-1221 or 865-594-1908