The DG PENCIL Box Surpasses $20 Million Milestone in Free Supplies to Metro Nashville Public Schools

The Dollar General Literacy Foundation (DGLF) and Dollar General are proud to announce the DG PENCIL Box surpassed its $20 million milestone of school supplies distribution to Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) teachers in middle Tennessee.


“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.”

To ensure educators are equipped with the tools they need to positively impact Nashville area students, the DG PENCIL Box allows MNPS teachers access to shop core school supplies such as pencils, glue sticks, spiral notebooks and flashcards at no cost, once a month.

“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 Volunteers

DG employees also regularly volunteer on additional PENCIL projects to support MNPS throughout the year. More than 180 DG employee volunteers served in the last two years alone.