JACKSONVILLE — To help elementary through high-school students be prepared for the school year, a Jacksonville church is offering kids an opportunity to take home free school supplies.
Victory Praise & Worship Church, 424 Church St., will host its annual Back to School Bash from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Aug. 6.
Brian K. Baker, the church’s pastor, said the event began nine years ago out of a need that the church discovered.
“We just wanted to help,” he said. “We have a lot of children in our church, and we have a lot of children come to visit our church. We noticed that they needed supplies and stuff from our church.”
Baker said he thinks a lot of the need for school supplies is related to low-income communities in Jacksonville.
“Coming from a single-parent home myself,” he said, “I know how it was for my mom, trying to get me ready for going back to school.”
Some highly needed items for students include binders, paper and glue, Baker said. He added that seeing other students arrive on the first day of school with backpacks of supplies can negatively affect a student who isn’t prepared in the same way.
“It can bring your self-esteem down to where you don’t want to participate,” he said. “At least [with these supplies], they’ll get off to a good start.”
At the Back to School Bash, the church will have 500 backpacks full of supplies. Elementary-school students will receive items such as glue, crayons, scissors, erasers and wide-ruled loose paper. Middle-school and high-school students will take home supplies such as composition notebooks, pens and 2-inch binders.
Because the Jacksonville-North Pulaski School District requires mesh or clear backpacks, the church will supply mesh backpacks only. Baker said backpacks are included in supplies because students often need a new one each year. All supplies have been donated by different entities, he said.
“Occasionally, we have a dentist in the area that gives us some toothbrushes and toothpaste,” he said. “We haven’t gotten that yet.”
Many church members also bring their children’s gently used school uniforms for students in need. Because the church hosts a summer food program, Baker said, meals will also be served. Children will receive a meal that includes meat, bread, vegetables and milk, and adults are typically served hot dogs.
Children must be present to receive supplies and will receive a stamp on their hand to indicate who has already received a backpack. Baker said he encourages parents to bring all their children because the church supplies one backpack per child.
Baker said parents who can’t make it to the Back to School Bash often call as early as late July about receiving supplies for their children. Parents who attend the event still make a point to thank him, he said.
“A lot of parents come through, and they try to find me personally,” he said. “We’ve had a lot of feedback from some parents thanking us. They tell us we don’t know how much it means.”
Baker said it’s important for a church to take on this role in a community. His daughter, Zondria Campbell, an assistant principal at Seventh Street Elementary School in North Little Rock, helped him coordinate the Back to School Bash.
“I think it’s important to do all that we can to help our young people,” he said. “Our young people are not only our future, but they are our today.”
Preparedness for the school year is about starting strong so that a student can also finish strong, Baker said.
“If we can help it, that’ll be 500 kids that won’t start behind,” he said. “We can’t take care of everyone, but at least we’ll know that some of them will have an even playing field to get started.”
Staff writer Syd Hayman can be reached at (501) 244-4307 or shayman@arkansasonline.com.