David Tepper Foundation, community partners provide $120K for school supplies

CHARLOTTE — The David Tepper Foundation teamed up with local charities and surprised teachers Tuesday with $120,000 worth of school supplies.

The Carolina Panthers owner, along with the John M. Belk Endowment and Carolina Panthers Charities, partnered to provide the gift that will benefit 800 Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools district elementary schools through Classroom Central.

The money will be used to get more than 15,000 backpacks and other school supplies.

The announcement was made in the Panthers locker room at the Bank of America Stadium.

Tepper said his mother, who was a teacher in Pittsburgh, often bought her own school supplies and brought some students in need out to dinner.

It was that spirit that Tepper brought to BofA Stadium Tuesday.

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“I understand you're really trying to give supplies to your students that you otherwise may not have to,” Tepper told the group of 60 teachers. “So, it means something to me that we can do this for them, and I know these teachers are reaching into their pockets in a lot of circumstances to do this.”

It was a boost for students and teachers who are in need of supplies in the second semester of the academic school year.

“We can all think of one teacher in our life who really impacted us and made a huge difference in our lives, and that’s part of our story,” said Jordan Schriefer, a third-grade teacher at Montclair Elementary School. “So, knowing that there are people still rooting for us, still caring and wanting to pour back into us, so we can pour back into these students and kind of have this ripple effect on students as they grow up is really remarkable.”

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