With the beginning of August, thoughts turn to back-to-school preparations.
Well, perhaps the thoughts of parents turn to back to school, while children squeeze out the last of their vacations.
Some students’ parents can’t afford to do much shopping for new items, including school supplies. This year, organizations around the Tri-Lakes region are working to make sure all students have what they need to return to their classrooms — including pride.
Henry Mitchell, a Malvern businessman, pastor of Mount Willow Baptist Church and the founder of Victory, a nonprofit service organization that sponsors the annual Back to School Youth Explosion in Malvern, is one of those who is helping.
He said that a student having a new backpack, fresh new notebooks, plenty of paper and colorful pens, pencils and markers can make the difference between inclusion in the social world of the classroom and yearlong alienation.
Oveta Pledger of the Ralph Bunche Community Action Agency in Benton, whose annual Back to School Picnic was held Saturday at Ralph Bunche Park, said that for many children, new school supplies give education a better chance in their lives.
“The mission of the event is to level the playing field for the students,” Pledger said of the event, which has been held 11 years. “We want to have no student feel they are left behind.”
In addition, Pledger said, companies and individuals donate supplies and funds for the event.
Before the 2013 event, Pledger said organizers expected to hand out around 300 backpacks filled with supplies.
“We have the school-supply lists from all the schools, and then we have 25 churches on board, each one collecting enough of one item on the list so that every child can get everything,” she said. “The backpacks are available for every grade level, K-12, and the supplies match the lists from each grade.”
Items include notebooks, notecards, pens and pencils, crayons and markers, along with plenty of paper and coupons donated by area businesses.
For students who could not attend the Saturday event, backpacks will be available at Benton Middle School until school begins.
“We have ordered 525 backpacks,” Pledger said. “The money has been donated by businesses and civic groups, and we get a special discount, not only for a large order, but from our partners who get them for us.”
Haircuts are available along with the school supplies. However, instead of having barbers at the event, Benton barber Windell Willbanks has volunteered to give haircuts on Sunday. Parents can sign up at the Back to School event; then Willbanks will have special hours, along with a cookout, for the children and their families.
Saturday’s event includes the annual Back to School Bash picnic, with hamburgers and hot dogs made during the event by volunteers. Pledge said soft drinks and pizza had been donated.
The first of several school-supply events was held in the Hot Springs area on Saturday, with more to follow this week, on Friday and Saturday.
This is the second year of the Stuff the Bus event sponsored by the United Way of Garland County.
Kathy Allen, executive director of the county’s organization, said the United Way works with Walmart to collect school supplies.
“All the local districts post their supply lists at Walmart,” she said. “We just ask people to pick up a few extra packages of paper or a few extra boxes of crayons.”
Last year, the drive collected enough that each school taking part in the program received approximately $1,000 worth of supplies.
“We were elated we were able to donate that much,” Allen said. “That was our first year, and we hope to double that this year.”
She said schools in the Hot Springs, Mountain Pine and Cutter Morning Star school districts are involved in the program this year.
The event for the Cutter Morning Star district was held Saturday. An event for the Mountain Pine schools will be held Friday at the Walmart store near Hot Springs Village, and on Saturday at the Walmart store on Albert Pike Road for the Hot Springs School District, Allen said.
Men United in Arkadelphia will help collect and distribute school supplies for students in the Arkadelphia School District during the organization’s annual Back-to-School Roundup at the Arkadelphia Senior Adult Center. For dates and information, call Ashlee Dixon at (870) 230-5386.
The largest of the back-to-school events in the region will be in Malvern, where Mitchell said he expects to give out 1,000 to 1,200 backpacks filled with school supplies to students on Saturday at Malvern Elementary School on Moline Street.
He said the program grows bigger and more important each year.
“We all care about the children,” Mitchell said. “Since 70 percent of the Malvern schoolchildren fall into the poverty category for reduced-price or free school lunches, this gave us a huge reason to do this every year.”
The program on Saturday will feature the Malvern High School Drumline, and the speaker will be Isaac Davis, a onetime football star at Malvern High School who played for the University of Arkansas Razorbacks and spent five years in the National Football League and one year in the XFL. He now coaches football in Little Rock.
Then, grades K-3 will go to the school gym for a puppet show and to get their backpacks.
New this year will be the appearance of the SNAP mobile unit from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program of the Arkansas Department of Human Services.
“Parents will be able to sign up their children for the free or reduced-price school-lunch program,” Mitchell said. “There will also be booths for local businesses and nonprofit organizations to offer information on their services.”
Haircuts have always been a large part of the program, but Mitchell said things will be handled differently this year.
“The students will get vouchers, and they can take those to the cosmetology classroom of the College of the Ouachitas, where the students and staff will be giving haircuts,” he said. “We used to have the haircuts here, but it took too long. Everyone else was gone, but the barbers and stylists were still here.”
Mitchell said vendors have partnered with the program over the years to make getting the backpacks and supplies easier and cheaper.
“Everyone gives us a huge discount,” he said. “Walmart and Office Depot have been super. They just give, give, give.”
Mitchell said he was moved to start the backpack program in 2006 because of personal experience.
“I remember what it is like to come to school unprepared,” he said. “I would try to borrow a pencil from one person and a piece of paper from another. Without the tools to do my work, it would be depressing.”
Staff writer Wayne Bryan can be reached at (501) 244-4460 or at wbryan@arkansasonline.com.