DG PENCIL Box Celebrates $20m in Supplies

PENCIL celebrated a major milestone in September 2024: The DG PENCIL Box, PENCIL’s free educator resource center, has distributed $20 million worth of school supplies to MNPS teachers since its inception in 2006.

The generous support of the Dollar General Literacy Foundation (DGLF), presenting sponsor of the DG PENCIL Box since January 2022, has been crucial to achieving the milestone. 

Through the DG PENCIL Box, any MNPS educator can access PENCIL’s warehouse for core school supplies such as pencils, glue sticks, spiral notebooks, and flashcards—at no cost and once a month. In school year 2023-24, PENCIL distributed more than $2.91 million in product through shopping, popups and giveaways, direct-to-school deliveries, and signature teacher appreciation events, which combine to make PENCIL the largest distributer of free school supplies in the state of Tennessee. 

“The commitment the Dollar General Literacy Foundation continues to make to our teachers and students by supporting the DG PENCIL Box is extraordinary,” shares Christiane Buggs, PENCIL President & CEO. “Countless Nashville educators have told us what a relief it is to shop to our store – not only for essentials like markers, crayons, and filler paper, but also for books, backpacks, flashcards, and more.” 

With a longstanding history supporting literacy and education initiatives, Dollar General first began its partnership with PENCIL in 1988 when the Company partnered with Hattie Cotton Elementary School in Nashville, Tennessee to support local students and teachers. In addition to the DGLF serving as the presenting sponsor of the DG PENCIL Box, Dollar General is an annual sponsor of PENCIL’s A Little Night of Music fundraiser and Together 4 Teachers back-to-school appreciation event. DG employees also regularly volunteer on additional PENCIL projects to support MNPS throughout the year. 

“We are proud to support, empower and uplift Nashville teachers so they can focus on enriching the lives of the more than 81,000 MNPS students,” shared Denine Torr, executive director of the DGLF and Dollar General’s vice president of corporate social responsibility and philanthropy. “As a proud partner of PENCIL for more than 35 years, we are grateful for their efforts to advance literacy and education in our Nashville community and look forward to championing more educators in the years to come.”