Ringing in the new school year with the Back to School Bash

By Kate Hayden, khayden@charlescitypress.com

Organizer Keisha Cunnings had 200 backpacks on deck at this year’s Back to School Bash — and still, she said, there was a good chance they’d run out before every kid in Central Park was holding a bag.

About 20 volunteers helped Cunnings serve the Floyd County community with free school supplies, shoes, food and prizes during the annual giveaway.

Hidden in Plain Sight also hosted a booth for parents and guardians, teaching caregivers how to recognize the clues that a teenager or child might have started smoking or struggling with other issues.

Trinity United Methodist Church offered 100 or so free children’s books to participants, and invited them to the church’s Friday family night.

Plus, there was a DJ, free food, entertainment and prizes galore.

“We have way more stuff this year — we went and shopped and got a lot more stuff — but I think we have way more people than we have before,” Cunnings said, looking around the park.

The event had about $4,000 in cash and product donations, she added — and families started lining up for the 4 p.m. event up to two hours early Friday.

Toward the back of the line, Mackenzie Wilson, an incoming senior at Charles City High School, and a team of Valero volunteers helped kids check out shoes. Wilson spent the hour and a half pressing her thumb on the end of kid’s toes to check the fit as they tested new sneakers for the school year.

Wilson took on organizing the annual shoe drive after the United Way Foundation announced it couldn’t hold the drive this year.

“I had helped out in past years, and my mom came home from work (at Valero) and said, ‘oh, they’re not going to do the shoe drive,'” Wilson said. “It helps so many families, so I decided that I wanted to take it on.”

Wilson and volunteers collected around 200 new or gently used kicks for kids to pick from — with volunteers and parents checking for the proper fit.

“We collected through July, but I started collecting cash donations and promoting it a little bit before that,” Wilson said. “It’s the first time I have taken over something like this. … It makes it all worth it, because you know that it’s really helping people.”

“It just shows the community we have a greater need than what everybody thinks,” Cunnings said. “I’m really fortunate to be in a position to help put on such a great event. Clearly, we have a need.”

“We’re going to go until we run out of everything,” she said. “It’s going great.”