Surplus school supplies for K-12 educators will be given out in Oak Ridge

Oak Ridge Associated Universities is hosting a surplus school supplies giveaway for K-12 public school educators from underserved schools throughout East Tennessee.

The giveaway event will be held from 8 a.m. to noon on Saturday, Dec. 9, on ORAU’s main campus in the classroom at 100 ORAU Way in Oak Ridge. All K-12 public school educators, especially those from underserved schools, are invited to participate, a news release said.

“One of our most important missions is the support of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) educators,” said Jennifer Tyrell, associate manager for K-12 STEM education. “We know not all teachers have access to the materials and supplies they need to teach their students, so when we found extra supplies, we decided we needed to donate them to educators.”

Items in the giveaway include gently used office supplies, makerspace materials and STEM equipment, including paper trays, file organizers, white boards, laboratory equipment and experiment resources, desktop scanners, laser pointers, VEX robotics kits, curriculum resources, wall posters, classroom treasure chest items and more.

“We have all been teachers,” Shannon Turner, project manager, said of the staff on the K-12 team. “We know what teachers experience, and we have all had to buy supplies out of our own pockets for our classrooms. It’s a wonderful feeling to be able to give back to our fellow teachers.”

Educators considering attending the event are asked to fill out a brief survey, which can be found here: https://orausurvey.orau.org/n/InterestPoll.aspx

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Surplus school supplies for K-12 educators will be given out at ORAU