Washington County helps hundreds of kids fill their backpacks with free back-to-school supplies

On the sun-filled afternoon of August 22, Washington County and the City of Oakdale held its second annual “Back-2-School” community event at Richard Walton Memorial Park in Oakdale, filling backpacks for youth attendees with free school readiness supplies. In addition to school essentials, the event provided free kids haircuts, a meal, snacks, vaccines, music, community resource information and more to hundreds of community members and their families.

“It means a lot cuz I’m a single mom of two, and to have something like this and take the financial load off school supplies is huge for me,” said Shayla, a mom from Maplewood. “I love it all, from the music to the dinner and haircuts – I hope the county keeps doing this, and the variety of what they have is amazing – it’s not skimpy, the kids are set for school after today.”

Oakdale Mayor Kevin Zabel spoke at the education-focused event and shared his delight to see so many school age kids and families gathering together to get back into the school mindset and see some of their familiar classmates too. “Events like these address a real need in our community. District 622 is the most diverse in community, and a lot of folks are under the poverty line, so this fills a big gap and makes sure kids are starting the school year right,” said Mayor Zabel.

Several partners came together to plan and host to the community event, including the City of Oakdale, Clean Cuts Barber Shop, a local DJ Still Phresh, a Touch of Magic Entertainment, CareerForce, NAMI MN, Washington County Library, Food Scraps Pickup Program, and Be Smart, an awareness program that educates adults on the importance of having guns securely stored at home. The Statewide Health Improvement Partnership and the Minnesota Department of Health also supported the event.

Many volunteers and Washington County employees dedicated time to planning and staffing the event, including Seiquayia Chapman, who played a pivotal role in organizing the event. “It was another successful event in year two- I’ve heard from attendees that they are so appreciative we did this again,” she said. “I want to thank everybody for coming out and we’re so appreciative to all of our vendor partners, especially DJ Still Phresh, who brought great energy to the event this year,” she added.

Oakdale resident Meka N. heard about the event through a flyer in her townhome complex. “I like that it’s organized, and it means a lot cuz it’s a lotta less fortunate kids here, and a lotta kids who don’t have school supplies so the donations are really nice. There’s a lot of parents who can’t afford supplies, and have multiple kids,” she said.

Despite being on crutches temporarily due to injury, Woodbury mom, Marie, was dancing to the DJ and shared her gratitude for the uplifting music and community focused event. “My favorite part is the music and the dancing, and it’s good that everything here is free,” she said. Her son’s favorite part about the event was a new temporary arm tattoo.

Given the success of this year’s event, Washington County hopes to do it again next year. For more information on other free community resources and upcoming events, visit https://www.washingtoncountymn.gov/532/Programs-and-Events .