Big Lots makes gifts of $2,000 to two local schools for opening of new store

Not a bad way to open the school year, two surprised Manatee County principals are saying after learning their schools will be benefiting from the opening of a second Big Lots store in the Bradenton area.

Big Lots announced this week it is awarding $2,000 to both Tara Elementary School and Braden River High School to mark the opening of its new store at Creekwood Crossing, which is located at 7381 52^nd Place E.

The schools were selected based on their proximity to the new store, a representative of Big Lots said Tuesday.

A soft opening of the store is planned for Thursday, and the grand opening is set for 8:30 a.m. Sept. 8, when Tara principal Laura Campbell and Braden River principal Sharon Scarbrough will accept $2,000 checks for their schools.

The new store is located in 31,412 square feet of space at the northwest corner of State Road 70 and Interstate 75. Business hours will be 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. seven days a week. The other Bradenton-area Big Lots store is located in Cortez Commons at 5584 Cortez Road W.

“We are very excited, surprised and appreciative of the gift,” second-year Tara principal Campbell said.

Tara will use the money for instructional materials to help teachers in the classroom, she said.

The gift will be one of the largest Tara has received in recent years. Others include $2,000 from Good Life Church and $1,500 from Neal Communities, Campbell said.

Braden River’s Scarbrough called the gift a wonderful surprise.

“We’ll use it to support our teachers with supplies we use in the classroom,” Scarbrough said. “It will go directly to our teachers to support our classrooms.”

Shelley Rubin, vice president of advertising for Big Lots, called the gifts an expression of the company’s appreciation for being warmly welcomed to Manatee County and its way of giving back to the community.

“Big Lots is honored to help advance the education of students at these schools with this donation,” Rubin said in a press release.

Big Lots is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, and operates 1,432 stores in 48 states.

“Amazing deals and an unbeatable selection of quality products will fill the store – we want customers to shop Big Lots first,” Rubin said.

For more information about Big Lots, visit www.biglots.com.

This story was originally published August 29, 2017 at 3:44 PM with the headline "Big Lots makes gifts of $2,000 to two local schools for opening of new store."