The Torgerson Team at Keller Williams Realty is sponsoring its second annual Back to School School Supply Drive this month.
For the month of July, The Torgerson Team will be collecting donations of school supplies on students’ and teachers’ wish lists, including sticky notes, EXPO markers, dry erase board cleaner, Kleenex, highlighters, pens, Clorox/Lysol wipes, paper, hand sanitizer, binder clips, pencils, Sharpie pens and paper clips. These much-needed supplies will be distributed to local teachers and students just in time for the new school year.
“Many families locally are struggling to make ends meet, and some of them are unable to provide the basic school supplies their children need to be effective,” says Nathan Torgerson of The Torgerson Team at Keller Williams Realty.
“In addition, schools across the country and just outside our door are facing budget cuts and lack of funding to purchase necessary supplies.”
Oftentimes the burden of purchasing these necessary classroom items, he says, falls on our local educators. According to The Education Market Association, almost all teachers end up paying for supplies out of their own pockets. In 2015, most teachers spent nearly $500 in 2015, and one in 10 spent $1,000 or more. In total, nationwide $1.6 billion in school supply costs fell onto teachers themselves due to families who could not afford them or school districts that did not allocate the funds for them.
“Last year’s school supply drive was so effective, and it was incredible to watch the community come together to help families who are struggling to afford school supplies,” Mr. Torgerson says. “And not only that, but to see the impact your donations had for our local educators who are spending their own money in order to properly equip their classrooms and supplement the needs of these students.”
School supply donations may be dropped off at the front desk of Keller Williams Realty Downtown, 202 Manufacturers Road in Chattanooga, during the month of July on Monday through Friday between the hours of 9 a.m.-4 p.m.