JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Jacksonville organizations on the Northside and Deerwood held backpack giveaways on Saturday.
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With the start of a new school year just weeks away, organizations like Northside Community Involvement (NCI) are making sure kids and families have the materials they need before going back to the classroom.
“There’s so many wonderful families in the community who in some cases, but some cases, don’t have certain needs that they need to have a successful school year,” Al Jackson and Eva Hardrick of NCI said.
Success goes beyond the classroom. That’s why there were free checkups, hygiene kits and other community resources.
“The reason why we tie the community resources to the bookbags is because we want them to have resources that can help them throughout the year,” they said.
In Deerwood, the 9th annual Military Back-to-school bash was held at the Brooks Family YMCA.
“Across the association, we have over 2,800 people that have participated and just at Brooks, we have over 300 families who are gonna be joining us to get a bookbag,” Nicole Payne, associate executive director of the Brooks Family YMCA said.
Joshua Keyes is working with VyStar Credit Union as a volunteer. He said this event means more to him because he has been on both sides.
“When I was in the military during my time, I remember how hard it was to just afford simple stuff like this, like back-to-school supplies,” Keyes said. "I was on the opposite end, right? And I would have people like a grocery store, for example, give us a turkey for Thanksgiving, or something as simple as like a Christmas tree for example, for Christmas. So being a part of this on the opposite side is very rewarding."
