Clarksville, TN – As the first bell of the new school year draws near, Whataburger is turning its dining rooms into drop-off points for pencils, notebooks, and glue sticks.
From July 20th through August 8th, all 19 of the chain’s Middle Tennessee restaurants are stationing donation bins near the counter to collect classroom supplies — one small piece of a much larger effort spanning Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana.
The ask is simple, and so is the thank-you: anyone who drops off supplies walks away with a coupon for a free Whataburger Jr., limited to one per customer no matter how loaded the backpack.
In Middle Tennessee, the drive is run in partnership with United Way of Greater Nashville, the century-old organization that coordinates community support across 42 counties in the region.
The supplies collected here, stay here. Funneled through United Way’s local network to students who need them; participating restaurants in the other three states are working with their own community groups to do the same closer to their own neighborhoods.
The centerpiece of the campaign lands in Franklin. On Saturday, Aug. 1, from 9:00am to noon, as Whataburger Unit 1553 at 3075 Mallory Lane throws a full back-to-school “Whatabash,” and the headline draw is a giveaway of 500 free backpacks for kids 12 and under.
Families can expect a DJ working the crowd, a station where children can personalize their new backpacks, games, interactive stops and food and drink samples throughout the morning — the kind of send-off meant to make the return to homework feel a little more like a party.
Franklin won’t be the only town celebrating. Whataburger locations in Clarksville, Antioch, Madison, and Murfreesboro are each hosting their own scaled-down Whatabash events the same day, with 100 free backpacks apiece and free burger coupons for kids, one to a customer while supplies last.
Giving is meant to be easy. During the drive, families can stop by any participating store during normal business hours and leave their donations in the designated “Back-to-School” bins; staff on-site can point out the bin or answer questions about the initiative.
Organizers suggest giving the everyday classroom staples then students need — pencils, crayons, notebooks, folders, scissors, glue sticks and markers all fit the bill.
To find the nearest participating restaurant, families can check the location finder at https://locations.whataburger.com/tn.html.
Behind the effort are two organizations with deep local roots:
Whataburger, born in Texas and now grown to more than 1,100 restaurants across 17 states, leans on the community ties of its restaurant crews as much as its menu.
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United Way of Greater Nashville, for its part, has spent more than a hundred years pulling together businesses, nonprofits and neighbors to help children learn, families find footing and the region’s most stubborn problems get solved. Residents who need help of their own can reach United Way’s free, confidential 211 Helpline any hour of any day by dialing 211.
