POWELL, Tenn. (WSVN) — When a Tennessee principal learned that a large number of students at her school weren’t able to do their laundry at home, she decided that she was going to help them out.
According to WBIR, Copper Ridge Elementary School principal Jennifer Atkins learned that a number of her students didn’t have access to a washing machine and dryer at home.
Many of the students live on farms or in transitional housing like motels or in campgrounds.
“Families are washing clothes in buckets or in the bathtub and then line-drying them,” she said.
Wanting to help them out, Atkins applied for a “TeacherPreneur” grant through the Great Schools Partnership to buy a washer and dryer for the school.
She got approval and was able to buy the appliances during a Black Friday deal. They were recently installed in the school earlier in January.
“It’s kind of one of those programs that we hope we never have to use, but we already have a family that’s using it right now,” said Atkins.
Students are able to drop off their laundry at an outside location so their classmates won’t see, and volunteers, including Atkins, will wash them.
Callie West, a teacher at the school is also helping to get donations to keep the program going.
“Even being a teacher here, I did not know that we needed a washer and dryer for our kids until you start thinking, ‘Oh, wait, they don’t have that,'” West told WBIR. “It’s something we have. We have washers and dryers, but there are kids that don’t have the opportunity.”
Atkins hopes to be able to share the machines with other members of the community in the future.
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