Lee’s Tennessee Serves Initiative Joins Purposity to Streamline How Tennesseans Serves

First Lady Maria Lee takes her Tennessee Serves Initiative to the next level by using technology to meet individuals, families, and students’ needs.

To fulfill the mission of volunteering and serving communities, Tennessee Serves partners with Purposity. An app developed for users to find purpose through generosity.

“We live in a world where we can make a doctor’s appointment from our cell phone, but we don’t know if somebody two streets from us has food to eat or clothes to wear,” said Blake Canterbury

Canterbury, founder and CEO of Purposity says the app allows users to help those in their local communities.

“So we have an app, you can download, it’ll pull your location, and you can scroll through in real-time and see that a family may need dinner tonight,” he said.

When the purpose is fulfilled, items arrive on the persons’ doorstep rather quickly.

“With a couple of clicks, you can meet that need, and it is on their doorstep in 24-48 hours,” said Canterbury.

As Tennesseans recover from natural disasters and a health pandemic, First Lady Lee emphasizes that Purposity empowers residents to meet neighbors’ tangible needs without leaving home. The first challenge is to meet the needs of students and families.

“The first lady said, let’s leverage the department of education and family resource centers across the state to get on board, start posting those needs as quickly as possible, and start helping people as quickly as possible,” said Canterbury.

So far, Purposity has helped nearly 3,000 students across the state. By partnering with Tennessee serves, it will reach many more.