Students in Clay and Pickett Counties among 15,000 students across the state to receive new backpacks from Tennessee First Lady Maria Lee
Lee said the Tennessee Serves initiative has distributed more than 47,000 backpacks to students in rural areas since 2021. Lee said the project aims to help students enter the classroom with confidence while alleviating the financial pressures families face during the back-to-school season.
Lee picked the 11 economically distressed counties in the state for this year’s distribution.
“Providing backpacks to students in rural Tennessee over the past six years has been a joy and pleasure,” Lee said. “As a former educator, I know the pressures families face at the beginning of the school year, and we are grateful to be able to alleviate a small burden on Tennesseans. It is our hope that these backpacks help students enter the school year with confidence.”
Lee said every student currently enrolled in a school district within a distressed county received a backpack through the program this year. Lee said the 2024 distribution included students in Bledsoe, Clay, Cocke, Grundy, Hancock, Hardeman, Haywood, Lake, Perry, Pickett, and Scott counties.
Lee said the backpack donation was coordinated through the Tennessee Serves July monthly challenge. Lee said the effort represents the final partnership between the initiative and Family Resource Centers to provide backpacks specifically to the state’s economically distressed counties.
