Families began lining up outside the Springfield Expo Center an hour before the Back To School Bash opened.
To get parents and children out of the rain more quickly, Springfield Public Schools opened their doors 30 minutes early.
Alicia Keyek, who has three teenagers, was among the first to arrive. I wanted to find parking before the event got crowded.
“That’s great. I really appreciate that, you have no idea,” he said. “With three teenagers at home, this is a godsend for us.”
Saturday’s event offered free backpacks, hygiene kits, vaccinations and physicals, plus fun activities including bounce houses, sports, games and robotics.
“This is the first time we’ve planned a back-to-school event on this scale,” said SPS Superintendent Grenita Lathan. “We want families to come, enjoy themselves and have the opportunity to access resources to help them be ready for the first day of school.”
The new school year begins on August 22.
Keyek said the top priority was getting backpacks for the two girls and one boy.
“I was looking for supplies for them, not so much the markers but the notebooks,” he said, gesturing to the back of the table. “That’s all a bonus.”
In the event, the first of its kind in the district, Convoy of Hope handed out bags full of groceries to families to celebrate a milestone. The local nonprofit has served more than 200 million people since it was founded in 1994.
“It’s important to celebrate these milestones with gratitude,” Hal Donaldson, founder and CEO of Convoy of Hope, said in a press release.
“We are incredibly grateful to the people who have made this possible: our generous individual and corporate partners, volunteers, team members, and the people we serve. We believe this is just the beginning as God gives us the ability to impact more lives, strive to end generational poverty and give people hope.”
Walking around the Expo Center, Keyek picked up other gifts, including free food.
“Groceries are an added bonus,” she said. “I wasn’t really looking for that. It was a nice surprise.”
Keyek said the one-stop shop approach “takes the pressure off” to prepare for the new school year.
In mid-morning, Lathan greeted the growing crowd from a stage before the Central High School Kilties performed.
He joked about the “beautiful” but rainy day and thanked the volunteers for making the event possible.
“We are very excited to be able to provide resources to our parents as we prepare for the 2022-23 school year,” he said.
Stephanie Stoner brought two children. They attend Pittman Elementary and Glendale High School.
“We’re more of a middle-income family, and (going back to school) is a lot,” she said. “It’s a lot of spending at once.”
He showed up at 9:30am, when the doors were originally scheduled to open, to see what was available.
“We got in line at 9:30 and just got in,” Stoner said shortly before 10 a.m. “One of the places here had school supplies and they were running out.”
The district “Ready. Ready. Supply!” The initiative collected school supplies until the end of July. These articles will be distributed by the teachers during the first week of class.
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At the event, the district planned to give out at least 4,500 backpacks.
“We were going to try to get backpacks for them. Backpacks are kind of expensive,” she said. “We’re just looking for extra school supplies to get us started and just fun for the kids.”
Stoner said this is the first time he can remember the district bringing together so many resources under one roof.
“That was a great idea,” he said. “In all my years in the district, I’ve never had this, especially with COVID.”
She said her children are “not quite ready” for school, especially the middle schooler who will be moving to a new building this fall.
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For weeks, Ron Woodard, the district’s director of immersive services, has been collecting prizes and other donated items for the event.
There were hourly drawings for prizes like Apple Air Pods, a laptop and gift cards.
Chris and Brittany Farr brought three of their children to the event. The two oldest attend Holland Elementary and Jarrett Middle School.
They showed up to buy school supplies, but were also excited to see other parents.
“With COVID and everything, we haven’t been able to get out and do a lot of festival stuff,” Brittany Farr said. “It’s kind of nice.”
He said the goal was to collect “everything we could.”
In past years, Brittany Farr said she would attend a back-to-school event at a local church and then start shopping for supplies in the weeks before classes started.
“It’s nice to have it all in one place,” he said.
Claudette Riley is the News-Leader’s education reporter. Email news tips to criley@news-leader.com.
