Lorne Williamson, the father of four school-aged kids, said he saved about $100 by attending the Better Together Book Bag Giveaway on Thursday at House Three Thirty.
It “gives everybody a little choice on what they want to get,” Williamson said. “Everybody likes free.”
Laptops. Calculators. And of course, backpacks filled with supplies.
Aybrielle Jessop, a second grader at Price Elementary School, picked out a teal backpack. She’s ready to go back to school.
“I’m excited to see my friends and play outside,” said the six-year-old.
And Quama Anderson is ready to sport his new backpack in his favorite color — black — on the first day of school at Buchtel Community Learning Center after a summer of enjoying the outdoors and playing video games.
The event marked the fourth year of the back-to-school giveaway. Chase Bank, in collaboration with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Summit, Medina & Stark Counties, Signal Akron and Educational Empowerment Group, hosted the event. Approximately 1,200 backpacks were distributed.
The space was special to Ace Epps, Akron’s Chase vice president/community manager.
“I’m a mirror of the people that we serve,” Epps said. “If you know who those people are, you just need to look in the mirror. We’re the same people, so you know what the needs are.”
Other organizations also entertained attendees, from a performance by a steel drum band to boxing workouts.
What does this backpack giveaway say about the City of Akron?
To Michael Williams, the principal of Akron Career Tech High School, it represents the level of love and concern for young people and their needs.
“It makes me feel excited that our students are able to look forward to the next couple of weeks doing something new,” Williams said. “They may have had a rough year or a rough start, but maybe we can encourage them to get ready and do the best that they can, knowing that people, teachers, educators, administrators, everybody is out here to help them.”
Williamson’s school-aged children — Khamil, Kenadi, Kassidy and Kyler — were four of the hundreds of kids to receive backpacks filled with notebooks, pencil cases, folders and toiletry items.
Khamil is excited to take more AP classes, including Spanish.
“I really appreciate that they supplied the book bags because it gives me something to at least start the year off with, and as well as the pencil case that I can store everything in. So I’m not scrambling to keep my stuff together,” said Khamil Williamson, who later this month will start her junior year at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School.
