PENCIL Partnership in Focus: Friends Life Community
One of PENCIL’s longest-running volunteering partner is another Nashville nonprofit organization.
Friends Life Community provides individuals with disabilities the opportunities and support they need and deserve, through a holistic personalized program of instruction and support.
Every week, a cohort of Friends volunteer their time at the DG PENCIL Box to make classroom creatives, manipulatives, emotion flashcards and other classroom resources.
Mary Margaret has been coming to PENCIL for over a year. She says, “Volunteering at PENCIL is cool! I like making die cuts for students to use, and I want to keep coming back in the future.”
Some of the Friends who visit PENCIL, like Zach and Andy, are non-verbal. Over time, they have found that the volunteering environment at the PENCIL Box is somewhere they can thrive, because they enjoy the routine of creating classroom creatives as part of a group.
Friends Life are among our most committed volunteer partners – last year, around 9% of all volunteering hours logged at the PENCIL Box were from the Friends.
On top of their volunteering, one of PENCIL’s staff also found us through Friends Life Community.
Stormy Goode joined our team as a PENCIL Box Store Associate in 2023. Stormy is responsible for ensuring that our store is tidied and fully stocked with educator supplies, and Stormy also goes out of her way to help our shoppers carry supplies and load their cars.
Working at PENCIL has taught Stormy the skills needed to be able to work effectively in a warehouse environment, learning skills such as operation of our pallet jack.
Stormy says “My favorite thing to do at PENCIL is giving back. As a former student, I like to give my time back to teachers. They give a lot of their time every week for those who don’t have supplies for their own students. Giving back is a way of saying thank you for spending time with me”.
“I like helping teachers because they help me to express myself. My favorite teachers are Miss Springer my Drama teacher, and Sarah Edwards and Jennifer Haston at Friends Life Community”.
PENCIL’s partnership with Friends Life was originally facilitated by Patsy Webb, Director of Pathways to Independence. Patsy had the following to share about her experience:
“Friends Life began an exciting partnership with PENCIL in March of 2022, and from the very beginning, Stormy was an enthusiastic member of the small group that volunteered each week. As part of the team, the Friends help sort and organize incoming donations as well as using the die-cut machines to create fun and engaging classroom materials that MNPS teachers use for decorations and learning activities. Stormy quickly became adept at these tasks and even took on additional responsibilities, such as restocking supplies and assisting with other important needs.”
“By the end of 2022, the team at PENCIL was so impressed with Stormy’s dedication, hard work, and job skills that they reached out with an exciting opportunity for her to take on a part-time role as a Box Store Associate. Now, almost two years later, Stormy continues to thrive at PENCIL, bringing her passion and commitment to her work each day.”
Having the Friends work and volunteer in the PENCIL Box is a significant source of happiness and positivity to our team. We’re extremely proud of our partnership, and hope it continues long into the future.
