Nashville, TN (August 4, 2021) – LP Building Solutions has been chosen as the 2021 recipient of PENCIL’s prestigious Ingram Award. PENCIL (Public Education Needs Community Involvement & Leadership), is the premier nonprofit linking community resources to Nashville public schools.
The Ingram Award is given each year to a community partner or volunteer who provides outstanding support and engagement to Metro Nashville Public Schools through PENCIL. Named for the late E. Bronson Ingram, a founding Board member of PENCIL, the Ingram Award will be presented at the August 18th event by Hank Ingram (Ingram Industries) to LP Building Solutions Chair and Chief Executive Officer Brad Southern.
LP Building Solutions (LP), a leading manufacturer of high-performance building products headquartered in Nashville, has been a dedicated PENCIL Partner since 2006. That year, company leaders approached PENCIL to create a teacher resource center similar to one that operated in Portland, Oregon, where the company had previously been headquartered. From LP’s seed investment, the LP PENCIL Box was launched to provide Nashville public school teachers with school supplies, free of cost.
Since 2006, and with annual investment from LP, the LP PENCIL Box has grown exponentially. In January of this year, the LP PENCIL Box surpassed $10 million dollars’ worth of all-time supply distributions to Nashville teachers, a remarkable milestone considering the program’s small beginning.
On average, Nashville teachers pay $410 out of pocket each year to bridge the gap between what families can provide and what is needed in class. Since the beginning of the pandemic, when MNPS students were learning remotely, the LP PENCIL Box was needed more than ever to supply students with the tools they needed to learn from home. PENCIL collaborated with MNPS procurement and logistics teams, along with scores of socially-distanced volunteers, to source, package, and distribute 71,000 individual student supply kits. Throughout the 2020-21 school year, PENCIL distributed 200,000 cloth reusable masks, and hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of PPE and cleaning products to schools through the LP PENCIL Box program.
“Without LP Building Solutions stepping up at the start, there would be no PENCIL Box,” shares Angie Adams, PENCIL President & CEO. “Company leaders at the time understood that our community needed a collective effort to ensure that no student is hindered by lack of supplies. Teachers tell us how incredibly valuable it is to access brand-new essentials like pencils, copy paper, and crayons on a regular basis, and how cared for and safe that makes their students feel.”
“Now we’re in a wonderful position to continue growing this program to reach every teacher in Metro Schools, every year,” Adams continued.
In its first year, LP PENCIL Box distributions totaled $26,175 worth of supplies to teachers. By the end of the 2020-21 year, distributions reached $2.5 million. PENCIL is the largest distributer of school supplies to teachers in Nashville and the LP PENCIL Box is the largest teacher resource center in the state of Tennessee. The PENCIL Box is located inside PENCIL’s offices at 7199 Cockrill Bend Blvd. in West Nashville.
Currently PENCIL is seeking additional space for a satellite location in the Antioch community, to better reach educators in the Southeast part of the city, where utilization has been lower.
The LP PENCIL Box’s efforts would not be possible without significant community support. The LP PENCIL Box remains stocked with core supplies thanks to the generosity of local partners, the Nashville community, ongoing support from LP Building Solutions, and national brands such as Dollar General and Kids in Need Foundation. Rogers Group, Inc. generously donates use of a warehouse and loading dock.
“Helping to create the PENCIL Box is one of the LP Foundation’s proudest achievements,” said LP Chair and Chief Executive Officer Brad Southern. “For 15 years, we have been honored to help teachers across the city prepare Nashville’s young people for the future. LP invests in the communities where our employees live and work because people are our most important asset. From high-quality building solutions and job opportunities to volunteerism and philanthropy, LP’s enduring purpose is to build a better world.”
The 2021 PENCIL Back to School Breakfast will be held on Wednesday, August 18th from 7am-8:30am at the Belmont Curb Center. A virtual event will be held the day before on August 17th. Elliott Davis is the Presenting Sponsor, and event co-chairs include Stephanie Bonner (Bank of America), Kason Davis (Caterpillar Financial Services), Gealita Greenhill (Murphy-Hoffman Company), LeShane Greenhill (SalesCocktail), and Shannon Sullivan (Ryman Hospitality Properties). More information at pencilforschools.org/events/back-to-school-breakfast
###
About PENCIL
Founded in 1982, PENCIL (www.pencilforschools.org) links community resources to Metro Nashville Public Schools to help young people achieve academic success and prepare for life. PENCIL’s work is guided by the needs of MNPS, is student-centric, and is achieved through partnerships and tangible engagements. PENCIL envisions a world where access and opportunities are equitable for all students to have a successful future.
About LP Building Solutions
As a leader in high-performance building solutions, Louisiana-Pacific Corporation (LP Building Solutions, NYSE: LPX) manufactures engineered wood building products that meet the demands of builders, remodelers, and homeowners worldwide. LP’s extensive offerings include innovative and dependable building products and accessories, such as Siding Solutions (LP® SmartSide® Trim & Siding, LP® SmartSide® ExpertFinish® Trim & Siding, LP® BuilderSeries® Lap Siding, and LP® Outdoor Building Solutions®), LP Structural Solutions (LP® TechShield® Radiant Barrier, LP WeatherLogic® Air & Water Barrier, LP Legacy® Premium Sub-Flooring, and LP® FlameBlock® Fire-Rated Sheathing and more), LP® TopNotch® Sub-Flooring, and oriented strand board (OSB). In addition to product solutions, LP provides industry-leading customer service and warranties. Since its founding in 1972, LP has been Building a Better World™ by helping customers construct beautiful, durable homes while our shareholders build lasting value. Headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, LP operates 25 plants across the U.S., Canada, Chile and Brazil. For more information, visit LPCorp.com.
