Many teachers in counties hit hard by Hurricane Florence lost all their school supplies in its floodwaters. Now a statewide effort is underway to help those teachers restock their classrooms.

Beginning today, lottery players and the public can join that effort by dropping off donations at one of the N.C. Education Lottery’s six regional offices and claims centers across the state. The offices are located in Asheville, Charlotte, Greensboro, Raleigh, Greenville and Wilmington.

The donations will join those made by lottery employees and will be delivered to a distribution center for shipment to teachers who need them. Donations can be any type of school supply on teachers’ lists, including paper, notebooks, pencils, markers, and tissues.

The lottery’s school supply drive is part of its partnership with a statewide effort, called Florence Aid To Students and Teachers in North Carolina, or FAST NC, created by state education leaders.

“Our employees wanted to help teachers recover from the losses they incurred during Hurricane Florence,” said Mark Michalko, executive director of the N.C. Education Lottery. “Hundreds of visitors come into our claims centers each week. We know North Carolinians like helping out each other in times like these and we wanted to make it easy for lottery players to join us in this good cause.”

Donations also can be made to the N.C. Education Fund by credit card on the FAST NC website, http://www.ncpublicschools.org/fastnc/, or with checks mailed to: N.C. Education Fund, State Board of Education, 6336 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, N.C. 27699.

FAST NC will work with local school superintendents, charter schools, and statewide associations to identify needs and help meet them.