Sunday marked the fourth annual Joe Jackson School Supply Giveaway, an opportunity for parents and students to come out and receive no-cost school supplies at the Aiken County Recreation Center.
This school supply giveaway event has been put on for nearly 20 years, but was renamed after the COVID-19 related death of Joe Jackson, a community member who was a dedicated supporter of the event.
Kathy Jackson, wife of the late Joe Jackson, spoke about the impact this event has on her because of the way it pays homage to Joe’s memory: “I get chills, I get chills, yeah, because I can just see him running back and forth, you know, [saying] ‘Kathy make sure we got this, Kathy make sure we got that,’ so, I know that he is smiling,” she said. “And for us to be able to all work together to make this happen is a real blessing.”
“The urge, really, is still the same, where people are still in need, so it’s a blessing to be able to, you know, to donate and give back to the community, to make sure our kids are well supplied for school and ready for school,” she added.
Early on Sunday afternoon, kids and their families lined up to receive paper, pens and pencils, crayons, backpacks, tissues, toothbrushes and other back-to-school necessities.
Tandra Cooks, the recreation manager at Aiken County, said “everything’s so expensive, and this is one less thing parents have to worry about before the kids go back to school.”
Pamela Perry, CEO of Serenity Charity Club, said she has seen the event grow larger each year “mainly due to inflation.”
“You know, food, gas, whatever you want to name, bills, everything,” she said. “Just to help the parents out, this is what we do for them.”
Perry noted that students were provided with light refreshments by Summer Break Cafe, a Serenity Charity Club summer feeding program that has offered meals to students throughout the summer at different locations.
Fifth grader Carolyn Klingel spoke about the supplies she received, saying the favorite thing she was given was “my backpack.”
One parent who came to get supplies, Alaina Bell, spoke about her first experience at the giveaway. “ It’s a good turn out. They’re giving away good supplies, and then they’ve got refreshments at the end, because it is hot out here,” she said. “Everybody can’t afford supplies and prices going up, I think it’s a good thing.”
Another parent, Jestina Washington, said it was also her first time at the event. While waiting in line for supplies, she said she was expecting “just a little something to help out.”
“I think it’s important for the community because every kid should have the right to have what they need when they go to school, and shouldn’t go empty handed on the first day,” Washington said.
Most Popular
Comments / 0